— • THE — — — 

HIGHWAY OF LIFE 

________ AND — — — 

HOW TO BUILD IT 

by : : i;2A bauhumi momi 



Classl! _______ 

Book . 

Copyright _ 

CORfRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



I 



THE HIGHWAY OF LIFE 
AND HOW TO BUILD IT 



BY REBECCA BALLINTINE MORROW 



INTERANTIONAL FEDERATION PUBLISHING CO. 
SILOAM SPRINGS, ARKANSAS 



Copyrighted 1921, by 
Rebecca Ballintine Morrow 
Webb City, Mo. 



JAN 24 1921 



©CU605501 



INDEX 



PAGE 



Foreword 5 

Founding the Highway 23 

Life of the Community Home 74 

Financing the Highway 137 

A New Reformation 162 

Character Building by Thought Induction 175 

Thoughts for the Thoughtful 189 

The Soul's Challenge (Poetry) 223 

The Soul's Sanctuary (Poetry) 224 

Why We Want the Earth (Poetry) 226 

I, The Lord, Fill Heaven and Earth (Poetry) 227 



"AND A HIGHWAY SHALL BE 
THERE ; IT SHALL BE CALLED 
THE WHOLE WAY; NO RAVEN- 
OUS BEAST SHALL GO THERE- 
ON; THE REDEEMED SHALL 
WALK THERE."— ISAIAH. 



FOREWORD 



IN this story of the Highway the writer is com- 
pelled to take the position that there is no mind 
perfectly sane but Divine mind; and if any of his 
offsprings have claims to sanity it is only to the de- 
gree in which that mind "corresponds" with his 
Maker. 

To some very well ordered people the teaching of 
Scripture seems only an appeal to the emotions, but 
such is not the case. "Come now and let us reason 
together,'' is an invitation to disordered humanity, 
and the power to reason is an attribute of well 
informed minds. Also "Remember this and show 
yourselves men," addressed to transgressors, con- 
vinces us that our Maker expects sensible conduct 
from men, though we know he does not always get 
it. 

Something is wrong with humanity! What is it? 
Where shall we find a remedy? The church claims 
that conversion, and the careful Christian life will 
prove a remedy for all unrestful states of mind as 
well as sinful ones; but if that is the facts in the 
case why is there so much discord in the churches; 
between different denominations; and between the 
members of the same church. 

This discord is also in many homes — not all by 
any means — and homes of good people too. It is 
in the schools also. It is in the business world, 
political camps and in society. It is the same kind 
of irritability that is causing all the trouble in 
Europe, but has not reached such an acute stage 
in our own land for we a newer society. 




6 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Just now however we are having an orgy of de- 
structiveness. Within a few weeks this year of 
nineteen twenty, in New York City, some creature 
drove a ear at rapid rate through a crowd of school 
children killing and wounding a number. On 
other occasions men have fired shots from rapidly 
moving cars into crowds, and in connection with 
this are the increasing number of murders, some for 
purposes of robbery and others seemingly without 
purpose other than destructive mania. And what 
is to be the end? Our daily papers record these 
awful acts and keep right on with their political 
rows with a feeling of doing their full duty. 

We hear of no gathering of reformers to inquire 
into the cause of such diabolic acts; but we do hear 
frequent calls on the police forces of cities to rid 
the city of criminals. When the latter are driven 
from one spot they take up their abode in another, 
and wherein is there any good done? If this sys- 
tem is the best one, and is in harmony with the law 
of the Kingdom of heaven, why does it not conduce 
to a better moral state among all classes? 

Instead of continual betterment we can easily see 
that human society is in as bad a state as it could 
possibly be without becoming absolutely demoral- 
ized; and we venture to affirm that it is not the 
presence of officials who keep it as tolerable as it 
is; but the quiet orderly minds of all those who go 
about their duties conscientiously, and have an 
abiding good-will to all the race. 

An official is not debarred from being of this class, 
but if his mind is not filled with good- will he don't 
help very much to keep the idle and restless from 
criminal acts. The responsibility for bringing good 



FOREWORD 



7 



out of all the confusion rests upon the rank and 
file of the people; and we will gain nothing by 
looking to legislation to counteract moral evil. 

Political activity does not conduce to peace. 
Crime increases during every presidential cam- 
paign; and it seems that the greater minds of the 
nation, being strained and tense to beat a political 
opponent, deprives the restless of what little re- 
straint those leading minds afford when they are 
functioning normally. For nothing is more apparent 
than that the best minds of the nation could control 
the weak and semi- vicious, if those best minds were 
in full harmony with all the laws of human progress. 
If the earth is a specially organized body, in steady 
process of development bearing within itself the 
life-germ of its further evolution ; as science has 
declared it to be, What about Humanity? 

The earth was created for humanity. It is only a 
secondary thought. And so we must consider hu- 
manity as a specially organized body; and the life- 
germ of its further evolution is the Spirit that pre- 
vades all space, and 'holdeth our souls in life.' 
What for? To live with the dollar sign always in 
our minds? To build up vast fortunes that will 
dwarf the natures of those who inherit them? 

The builder and sustainer of our universe is inter- 
ested in humanity, and when His son came to this 
planet it was to develope love in the hearts of all 
who were capable of love to all; for the purpose of 
founding on earth, "The reign of the heavens." If 
God is love then universal good-will is the highest 
intelligence known, and we, earth-born dwarfs should 
be getting in harmony with that intelligence, for we 
need it badly. We are nearing a time when the 



8 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Ancient of Days is going to call us into judgment, 
and ask as He did Cain ' 1 "Where is thy brother ? ' ' 

' 'Make straight paths for the feet of the weak — 
lest they be turned out of the way," is a command 
of Divine Mind. What are we going to do about 
it? Will it be said to the assembled Christian world? 
" Inasmuch as ye did not make straight paths for 
the feet of these weak ones, I can do nothing for 
you?" 

A perfect understanding of the mind of God will 
come as a result of perfect obedience to the knowl- 
edge we already have ; and if we were constantly 
endeavoring to fully understand the perfect mind of 
God in this way, our mental and spiritual growth 
would be continuous. 

What the world needs is not a new revelation, but 
an enlarged perception of revelation; a union of 
Christianity and science in the minds of men that 
will enable them to understand the far-reaching and 
beneficent purpose of a Creator, whose work knows 
no cessation in time or eternity, and whose vision 
sweeps the milleniums of the future, as of the past. 
If humanity once gets sight of this vision; and an 
understanding of him whom God hath sent, love of 
the things of this world will disappear from human 
hearts; and we shall see a race redeemed from the 
animal plane of thought — a grand procession travel- 
ing Godward. 

But do not think for an instant that we can get 
away from responsibilities. God is in Christ recon- 
ciling men to himself; but he is, or must be in us 
to reconcile human society and all the affairs of 
earth to himself. And the only way they can be 
reconciled is to build up industrial institutions 



FOREWORD !) 

founded on the law of the spiritual world. We must 
do this if we desire that God should dwell among 
us; and if he dwell not among us, we will never 
have peace. God's will can never be done on earth 
with our present institutions, and we have in our 
type of government a perfect platform from which 
to advance to a higher plane. 

No violence is necessary or possible when we build 
in the Highway by the law of the Kingdom. Uni- 
versal good-will would cause us to desire such a 
way of life, for all classes of society need to walk 
in the path of peace. ' 'Acquaint thyself now with 
God's purpose for humanity," for Scripture makes 
known the whole mind of God; and we are invited, 
and commanded, to know that mind. We will have 
no further revelation ; but the Spirit will show us 
things to come, when, by our obedience, we pave the 
way for further knowledge. 

When the tabernacle was set up, God displayed 
his glory there. If the men of Israel had said, "W r e 
cannot build a house for God. He must do the work, " 
would they ever have been chosen to make the true 
God known to humanity? Christians pray daily for 
God to dwell in their hearts, when their mind is so 
filled with the lumber of the world thought that there 
is no space for the Spirit to occupy. Christ, who 
was always scientific,, said, "If a man love me he 
will keep my words, and my Father and I will love 
him and abide in him." He said also, "The words 
I speak are Spirit and life." 

Let us get a clear perception of our responsibility 
in keeping our own spiritual health up to the re- 
quired standard. When we pray, "Create in me a 
clear heart, and renew a right Spirit within me," 



10 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



we will, if we are of God's family, go to work to 
answer our own prayer. Ours is the task of remov- 
ing the obstructions to the Spirit of life. Christ 
said, ' 1 The children of this world are in their genera- 
tion wiser than the children of light," and they 
certainly are more consistent, for God's professing 
children are barely on the boundary line of the new 
Kingdom, and hang to the old with one hand, while 
they stretch the other imploringly to heaven asking 
God to relieve them of all responsibility. God's 
purpose is for them to grow into a higher intelli- 
gence by a practical use of what they already have. 
Let us pray for that Spirit of power, love and sound 
mind that was the gift of God to the early church, 
and gave such confidence and moral strength that 
unlearned men could confound kings. And after 
having prayed for the same mind that was in Christ 
let us go to work systematically and scientifically 
to attain it. 

The cause of all discord everywhere, divorce, 
homelessness, thievery, murder, drunkeness; all evil 
is that the race persists in dwelling in the low 
regions of the animal thought. Not that all minds 
are depraved by any means, for there are degrees 
in the world-thought, but as long as any mind is 
materialistic in consciousness it is not living up to 
its privilege of helping others out of the mire. 

"Come up higher," is the standing invitation of 
Spirit to those on all planes of existence. You may 
have attained much. All the greater need for you 
to press on the height. The higher you get in this 
spiritual mind the more you can help those in the 
lowlands, and darkness of this world; for a char- 
acteristic of the princes of the spiritual world is to 



FOREWORD 



li 



have power with God and man, and you can become 
such a prince. By becoming spiritual minded you 
will find yourself out of harmony with this present 
world, but all of Christ's true followers are out of 
harmony. And the increased spiritual intelligence 
will soon enable us to understand that the heavenly 
Father has not planted these institutions; and that 
he has provided spiritual weapons for the pulling 
down of the strongholds of spiritual wickedness in 
high places ; and the same intelligence show us how 
to build the walls of Jerusalem. 

Organized thought built the walls of Jerico, and 
a higher organized thought caused their fall ; so with 
the materialistic consciousness that is the barrier 
between God and man, and between man and man. 
Man on the plane of world thought built it, and 
all the institutions that spring from it are his work, 
and the higher and better organized thought of 
Spirit will bring it down, and while doing so build 
up that which shall endure. 

If the sight of the race, weltering in the sea of 
materialism, bound hand and foot by the world 
thought, and unable to set themselves free or attain 
the good their souls desire, is not sufficient to 
awaken the Christian world to their high privileges, 
and responsibilities; we pray that they may be 
scourged to activity by the judgments of God. 
Christ's messengers are now "gathering out of his 
Kingdom all things that offend." And "our God is 
a consuming fire," to all that is unlike himself. 

This is not a world of chance. It did not just 
happen. It has law, and a law-giver. It is a spirit- 
ual world governed by spiritual law: and the man 
who imagines that the unrest and evils of human 



12 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



society can be reformed and cured without a radical 
spiritual awakening of the whole race, presents a 
sad case of arrested mental growth. The spectacle 
of apparently wise men trying to patch up the old 
worn out system that has served its day, to make 
it last a little longer, is pitiful to say the least. 

The efforts of the lawless elements in the world 
to change the system by taking the accumulated 
wealth into their own hands, is not more unnatural 
and unscientific than the efforts of the rich to hold 
the race in its present state of discord forever, be- 
cause they blindly imagine this system will conduce 
to the good of themselves and their children till the 
end of time. 

Humanity is divided into three hostile camps : 
those who control the bulk of the accumulated 
wealth of humanity, and make gain from the labor 
of others; those who feed the world and have some 
capital in a farm added to their own labor, and lastly 
those whose only capital is physical strength, and 
efficiency in manufacturing the many articles needed 
by the race. In each of these camps are those, 
however, who love mankind, and so the hostility 
is in a measure moderated, and made bearable ; and 
if it were not for this all countries would now be 
plunged into the same awful state in which Europe 
is now floundering. 

In each of these camps continuous activities are 
being carried on to better the campers; the rich are 
trying to have such legislation as shall make any 
change in their affairs impossible; the farmers are 
laboring as valiantly to put farming profits above 
the reach of vicissitude; and the labor unions are 
working over time to force their wages up and the 



FOREWORD 



13 



cost of their living down; thinking honestly, as do 
the other two clasess, that their selfish desires will, 
if gained, be a true reformation. The noise and 
confusion made by these three classes fills the earth 
with conflicting sounds; and make it impossible to 
hear the still small voice that says, "Make straight 
paths for the feet of the weak, lest they be turned 
out of the way." "For the earth is the Lord's, and 
the fulness thereof belongs to Him," "and the land 
is mine." "Cease to do evil, learn to do well." 
"Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed; judge the 
fatherless ; plead for the widow. ' ' 

Why should it seem a strange thing that states- 
men should seek to know the will of God, and once 
knowing it, strive to make that will the constitu- 
tional law of the land? God made the earth and 
placed men upon it ; made known to the race the 
type of government he wished set up ; and thousands 
of years later, we find men still working feverishly 
to set up their own will, foolishly imagining that 
this whole solar system was created that they might 
"make money." Surely such mental blindness was 
never heard of before in God's universe, that a race 
of beings who are only here for a short term should 
imagine that they know more than the Eternal mind 
that neither slumbers nor sleeps. 

The Bible is the storehouse of all knowledge. We 
are not left in doubt of our duty in any particular ; 
and the events of our times show plainly that the 
time h^s come for God's visible Kingdom to be es- 
tablished, and grow until it fills the earth, displacing 
all institutions founded on the selfishness of the 
animal mind; thus making our God king over all 



14 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



the earth, and rendering it possible for His holy 
will to be the supreme law of all peoples. 

God's work of creation is not yet finished. He 
is still creating the Spirit of man within him, and 
the awful crimes, disease, and disasters of this 
present time will cease only when the promptings 
of Spirit are obeyed fully; and men set about the 
building up of those institutions which shall con- 
stitute the ' 'Reign of the heavens on earth," and 
bring in everlasting right-thinking among the 
children of God. 

Many honest, but uninformed souls imagine the 
Kingdom of God to be a vague, mystical state, that 
has no relation to the practical affairs of earth ; and 
for that reason do not know that they have any 
duty to perform in its establishment. To be sure 
we must have the Kingdom within us before we can 
begin to spread it abroad in visible form. If it is 
not to be a real and tangible Kingdom it would not 
be contrasted with Babylon or the system which 
now exists, as it is in Revelation. Babylon is shown 
to be our present commercial system, founded on 
the selfishness and greed of men for their individual 
enrichment. And in the prophecies of Isaiah, we 
are carefully shown that the new earth is a new 
industrial system, founded on the thought of God 
for the whole human family; and constituting the 
Jerusalem of God's ordaining, that type of govern- 
ment which rules in the " Unseen universe," and 
which God has always purposed to establish among 
men on this earth. 

"Let not the rich rejoice in his riches: the mighty 
man in his might : or the wise in his wisdom ; but 
let him that rejoiceth, glory in this; that he under- 



FOREWORD 



15 



tandeth and knoweth me; that I am the Lord that 
exercises justice, loving-kindness, and right-thinking 
in the earth, for in these things I delight," saith 
the Lord. If it is really true that God delights only 
in justice, love, and right thought, how much pleas- 
ure is He getting from this rebellious province; 
where even those who claim to belong to his im- 
mediate household follow the same pursuits as the 
worldling, and in the same spirit; caring nothing 
for the woes of the oppressed, or the blindness of 
those held in the bondage of the world thought, that 
leads to mental and moral degeneracy, ' 1 The word 
of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than a 
two edged sword;" but how can we be energized by 
it to do our full duty toward the work of the King- 
dom, if the world thought occupies us to the ex- 
elusion of all other? 

Let all God J s children see to it that they are walk- 
ing in the path of practical right. Vague and 
mystical interpretations of the word will help us 
not at all in these evil times. "In the early days 
of the Kingdom, before any permanent institutions 
were possible on earth, those who received God's 
Spirit were of one mind and one soul; neither said 
any that the things he possessed were his own, for 
they had all things common." These times call for 
just such earnestness, but it does not seem to call 
for the same methods. It seems rather to call for 
cooperative action by those whose ears are not dull 
of hearing; but the prime idea is to have a knowl- 
edge of what God's purpose for the race really is. 
and a mind ready to respond when God shall give 
the command to go forward. 

Mankind's greatest need is to get into harmony 



16 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



with the mind of God, the only intelligence in the 
universe ; and the way to harmony is the straight 
path of literal and absolute obedience to all the laws 
of that mind. The over-coming of all physical dis- 
ease, the healing of mental disorders, the untangling 
of complicated affairs of all natures, the spiritual 
advancement of the race, depends on this harmony 
with our God. So it is our highest duty as well as 
our greatest privilege to know what God's mind is 
on all that pertains to the physical, mental, and 
spiritual well being of the whole race. 

In the dark ages men went on long perilous jour- 
neys to free the Holy Sepulchers from the Turks, 
and thought they were doing that which was pleas- 
ing to God. In the recent world war many people 
who had never before done useful labor, learned 
what a blessed privilege it was to serve. The setting 
up of the coming Kingdom will be a crusade worthy 
of the participation of the most intelligent minds on 
earth, as it always has been to the intelligent minds 
of heaven; and the service of those engaged will 
bring joy as long as time endures ; for to create 
beauty and harmony in all human affairs is to do 
the work that God has been preparing throughout 
all time ; and so, such service is the service of God, 
that will bring immediate good to all concerned. 

In our own country women now have the privilege 
of voting for election of president, but many good 
women shrink from political matters. In the estab- 
lishment of a new system there need be none of the 
fighting and discord that accompanies present-day 
methods of government; for what we build for hu- 
manity must be according to the pattern given iu 



FOREWORD 



17 



Scripture, and the law by which we build is the law 
of love. 

In the following pages the object is to make clear 
the teaching of Scripture concerning our personal 
responsibilities to the building of those institutions 
which shall be, when completed, the Kingdom of 
God. An effort has been made to show that the over- 
coming of disease, and finally death is a personal 
responsibility. Health of body is dependent on oar 
obedience to all God's law; not simply a portion 
of it, and if we obey in all but one thing we are 
still transgressors. Let us apply a strict rule to 
ourselves, and stop shamming. The unscientific idea 
that we can be at peace with God on our own terms 
is childish. There are conditions to fulfill. Love 
is the end of the law, but love is not passive. We 
cannot so accept it. Love is active good will. It 
might almost be said that love is militant good will. 
If you imagine you love your neighbor as God loves, 
you will be energized to do. Be not deceived for 
you will be judged by your real attitude towards 
your neighbor. 

We have but lately seen the kings of the earth 
and their armies, gathered together to make war 
against human progress, which is the work of Christ. 
We have heard the crashing of thrones as they came 
tumbling down, to prepare the way for the reign 
of peace, and just as surely as this was a fulfillment 
of prophecy, we shall soon be enlightened by the 
advent of that messenger who shall proclaim the 
doom of every plant that the heavenly Father has 
not planted. That this enlightenment of earth is to 
be mental, or spiritual, is plain; -for will it not bring 
the intelligence necessary to build up that system 



18 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



of beauty on earth which shall correspond to the 
Kingdom or rule of Spirit in the unseen world. 

Scripture proves its author to be the mind of the 
universe, because all its laws are so perfect; and 
when humanity follows its teaching, and works by 
its perfect law we shall see the Jerusalem of peace 
rising in grandeur and beauty; while Babylon, al- 
ready doomed, goes to pieces of its own weight ; for 
God never intended that an enemy system should 
long exist to thwart the hopes of men or hinder the 
building up of spiritual manhood. An enemy hath 
done this, is the attitude of all spiritual intelligences 
to every institution founded on the world thought. 
We are told that God's children shall tread down 
all institutions that hinder the reign and rule of 
Christ. "They shall be as ashes under your feet in the 
day I shall do this saith the Lord/' But this does 
not imply that we shall make use of the weapons 
of warfare used by the kings of the earth. 

All the activities required to build up the new in- 
dustrial system will be according to the law of that 
Kingdom; for no one will be harmed by its coming. 
Even those whose short-sightedness might cause 
them feebly to oppose will, if they survive that long, 
be convinced that it is of God even -before its full 
completion. All the kings of the earth, merchant 
kings, and captains of industry, will weep at the 
fall of Babylon, we are told; but if they live to see 
the bulwarks of Zion we trust they will be comforted ; 
and their offspring will never come to want which 
they might do under the old disorder. Individuals 
are short lived but the race endures ; and God is in 
the race, and will never cease His work to bring 
humanity to perfection, so that He may dwell among 



FOREWORD 



19 



them. '"For His delight is with the sons of men; 
and He rejoices in the habitable parts of the earth.' 5 

Scripture teaches that the race will become spirit- 
ually intellectual, and then shall they know that 
Divine mind is the only intelligence, and the only 
power. When they have attained this state they 
will know that health of body depends on harmony 
with the law of Spirit. When that time arrives the 
inhabitants of that land shall not say, " 'I am sick/ 
for the consciousness of the world-thought will be 
displaced by the Divine intelligence; and the peo- 
ples of all nations shall 'know God from the least 
to the greatest.' " In this evil time worship and 
service of mammon is universal, ''The prince and 
the great men" have but one ambition; to acquire 
more of this world's goods. The so-called people of 
God are so wrapped up in the ways of the world 
they can scarcely be distinguished from the world- 
ling. While the strong are thus engaged, the weak 
stray from the path of right conduct. In the cities 
stealing has become so common that it will, in time, 
interfere with legitimate business. 

And still the voice of God is sounding down the 
centuries; "Make straight paths for the feet of the 
weak, lest they be turned out of the way." Is 
Jehovah God of all the people, more interested in 
the morally weak than in this grand Babylon that 
turns their feet from the true path? Mankind wor- 
ship the work of their own hands, but if we consult 
the Scripture to learn what God thinks about it, we 
read, "I hate, I despise your solemn assemblies— and 
when ye make many prayers I will not hear" — 
"Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot bear," 
— "They make me tired"— "Take away from me the 



20 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody 
of thy viols," — "But let justice run as waters, and 
right-thinking as a mighty dream." 

As though God speaking through Christ, should 
say, "I am sick of all your psalm singing, why call 
me Lord, Lord, and do not the works I command 
you? We even hear people in this age claiming 
that the church is doing greater works than Christ 
did while here as a man; and this is only another 
evidence that the loftiness of man must be humbled 
in the dust before God's law can be exalted to 
heaven. 

God, our Creator, never makes an appeal to our 
emotions. Christ appeals only to our reason. We 
are expected to obey spiritual law because life lies 
in that direction. We were not intended to remain 
always on the low plane of animal thought, loving 
ourselves exclusively. The consciousness on that 
plane is not that for which we were created. "Come 
out of Babylon, my people, that ye may be no longer 
partaker of her iniquities;" is the plain command 
of Spirit. "Reward her even as she rewarded 
you, (by building up Jerusalem of peace to all) for 
her sins are reaching unto heaven." Rejoice over 
her destruction, all ye inhabitants of the heavens, 
for, by her fall, our God shall be King over all the 
earth." 

Prophecy is inverted history; told before it hap- 
pens, by the mind that is the cause of all things in 
heaven and in earth. It is given for our instruction 
that we may prepare our minds for intelligent 
cooperation in the work of building up a perfect 
and stable government on earth. And this govern- 
ment, when perfected, will be theocratic. Christ 



FOREWORD 21 

the ruler, and every intelligent being acknowledg- 
ing his right to rule, by submitting himself to the 
law of Spirit. So it will be the Reign of mind. No 
armies, navies, or officials, will be necessary when 
the law of Spirit is obeyed by all; and we doubt 
if there will be any visible appearance of our kingly 
ruler. So each man having subdued the world- 
thought and all its discord in his own mind, will 
be king and priest unto God; and reign as long as 
Christ shall reign. 

This is the high honor to which humanity is called. 
The responsibility is great, for we must become 
working partners with the son of God in the task 
of overcoming the world-thought; and its resulting 
disease and death, as well as the institutions founded 
on force. But the very hardness of the task shows 
us that our Maker knows we can do it. When God 
commands, His words carry with them the power 
necessary to obedience. When we have the will to 
do, we shall receive the wisdom and power to go 
forward. 

Why should we not aspire to grow into the Divine 
character and help to set up the reign of the heavens 
among men? What else promises us life or happi- 
ness? If we were obliged to live a long period of 
years subject to sickness, and knowing death to be 
certain, we would not consider life any boon. We 
have instead the glorious hope and possibility of 
having the mind that was in Christ, and so becom- 
ing deathless. For though we may not overcome in 
the short span of years we have here now, if the 
work is well begun, we can lay down in death with 
the firm conviction that the grave will not hold us 
long. It held our Master not more than forty hours. 



22 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



If we had the Spirit that was in Him it could hold 
us no longer, for in the spiritual mind there is no 
element of self destruction. There is no possibility 
of unity or harmony among men on the plane of 
the world-thought. If the race were lifted bodily 
into a perfect environment, in their present state of 
consciousness, they would soon turn it into bedlam. 
4 'There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked 
(Those who mistake the meaning of life because of 
a consciousness founded on the world- thought) there- 
fore, 1 'Make you a new heart and a new spirit." 
Why follow the way of death? 

Unity can come only from determined effort to 
learn the thought of God, and abide in it ; for that 
was what the race was created for. Mankinds pres- 
ent state of discordance is unnatural. Being 
governed by Spirit leads to health of mind and body, 
increased intelligence, more intelligent offspring, 
right moral status in society, improved conditions 
everywhere, harmony and life. Because some have 
f always been seeking the Kingdom of heaven, human 
| progress has been possible. When all seek the 
Kingdom of heaven together we shall have the 
Highway of Life, and the new heavens and the new 
I earth will presently appear; for Jehovah, the God 
\ of all the people has spoken the word. 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



MOTHER, said Judge Goodwin to his wife, rous- 
ing himself from a lengthened spell of ab- 
straction: "I have invited a number of men to the 
house tonight to discuss present-day problems. I 
hope it won't annoy you in any way; you need not 
see them if you don't wish to." 

"I do wish to hear the discussion, Papa, and you 
know meeting your friends could not annoy me." 

"Will you be present son?" This remark to his 
eighteen year old son, now a student of a local col- 
lege; for this father and mother refused to send 
this offspring away from home to be educated. 

"I'll study my lesson for tomorrow right away 
and be down at eight," returned the boy rising 
from the table. 

Judge Goodwin and family and I, Alice Browne 
had just finished our six o'clock dinner when this 
conversation took place ; and we immediately sepa- 
rated to attend to our respective duties. My duty 
was with the younger children in the nursery, and 
I went immediately to my post. The two children 
played for an hour in the upper hall, because it was 
an unpleasant evening. After that I read to them 
awhile. Then the parents came in, and there was 
the usual quiet half-hour of conversation in which 
I took no part even though I stayed. At eight I 
saw the girls tucked in their little beds, and bidding 
them good-night started to my own room. 4 4 Are you 
not coming down this evening, my dear?" Mrs. 
Goodwin asked, as I moved away. "I shall feel 
quite out of place without you, yet I wish to hear 



24 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



the discussion. ' ' So it came about that I was pres- 
ent at the very inception of this work, which has 
already brightened the lives of so many thousands 
of people; is still growing, and will finally fill the 
earth with peace and truth. We went down to the 
large parlor and as the front door was still open 
and Mr. Goodwin stood near a window from which 
he spoke to each guest as they arrived, none of the 
household needed to usher them in, for Judge 
Goodwin's household was noted for its democratic 
manners. 

The first to arrive was the minister of the church 
the household attended, as he was a frequent guest 
he came in as though at home, shook hands all round 
and took a seat by Mrs. Goodwin ; who became much 
interested in the story of a poor family who were 
sick, for which Dr. Aiken was securing aid. Mr. 
Somers, a banker, an elderly kindly man was the 
next, and w his wake a captain of industry. Then 
came the old family doctor, accompanied by a col- 
lege president. After this there arrived in quick 
succession a social settlement worker — a man of 
wealth and culture — and behind him a lecturer of 
nation-wide fame. After this a farmer and a 
laborer. An ex-president and a military man came 
together and last, but not least ; the son of the house. 
Some of the guests were strangers to Mrs. Goodwin, 
Ralph, and I, and for a few minutes while we were 
being introduced there was quite a buzz of conver- 
sation which lasted until Mr. Goodwin invited them 
to be seated. All eyes turned expectantly to him 
as they complied. 

"I know that all you gentlemen are humani- 
tarians," began the Judge, "And for that reason, 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



25 



have asked you to discuss with me some of the most 
urgent problems of the present day." There was 
some movement of shoulders and amused smiles, 
but most of the men listened with great interest. 
"Human activities are very well represented here, 
and also human intelligence, and I trust also that 
good-will toward the whole human family predomi- 
nates. Before the war, the majority of thoughtful 
human beings imagined that we had reached a high 
state of civilization; and some were superficial 
enough to imagine society could not be improved, 
except that the laborers of the world might learn 
to be content, and the illiterate become educated." 
The last part of this remark was accompanied by 
a half smile which vanished as he continued. "Now, 
however, even the most careless observer is ready to 
admit that there is some deep-seated malady afflict- 
ing the race. So one moral doctor prescribes this 
remedy, and another that remedy; politicians are 
working overtime at their favorite occupation, tell- 
ing how to cure the unest, but the unrest continues 
and threatens to overwhelm us. All of us know 
about the turmoil in other lands, and the waves of 
crime and general depravity in our own nation that 
amounts almost to a state of war. You gentlemen 
love your neighbors as yourselves, I am sure of that, 
therefore, you have thought deeply on a remedy for 
human woes. Let each one express himself freely, 
for, in a multitude of counsellors is wisdom. I yield 
the floor to Dr. Aiken." 

"Do we really love our fellowmen as we love 
ourselves ? ' ' Dr. Aiken asked as he arose slowly. ' ' 1 
confess for my part, I have never held myself ac- 
countable for love to unlovely people; but I pray 



26 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



that they may become lovely in character. I would 
like to see a peaceful and satisfied people on earth, 
though, and when the Kingdom of God comes we 
shall see just that. I cannot understand how we 
could build up a different industrial system without 
doing violence to those who own and control the 
great industries. "What is your opinion?" turning 
to the captain of industry. "Does your love for your 
fellowmen enable you to find a safe way to better 
their conditions? I am like yourself, Dr. Aiken. 
I am anxious to see human affairs put on a more 
satisfactory basis. I believe there will be a change 
but whether that change will be for the betterment 
of the race ask James Craig, there," indicating the 
workingman by a nod. "He has given this subject 
more thought than I have. He loves his fellowmen 
better than he does himself." 

All eyes in the room turned smilingly to Mr. Craig 
who rose to his feet without hesitation, saying ; " Of 
course we all love our neighbors as well as we love 
ourselves, but the trouble is the major part of men 
love the good things of this world better than their 
neighbor or their own souls. Materialism is the 
root of all discord. If we could overcome that we 
would have cooperative industry in a short time. 
My employer there indicating the manufacturer is 
hoping all the time a way will be found to settle 
discord. He is a socialist at heart and needs watch- 
ing. Liable to leave the safe path and become a 
radical any day. Personally, I am hoping for the 
Kingdom we are taught to pray for. I have no 
remedy for the woes of the race. Let us hear from 
Dr. Mowbray." 

The old doctor rose to his feet slowly, saying, "I 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



27 



spend so many hours a day helping sick people to 
get rid of ills brought on by their lack of wisdom, 
that I don't have much time to meditate. If we 
could have a state of affairs that would cause peo- 
ple to live sensibly, I would have time to go fishing. 
I hear that Trout are biting fine in the streams/' 
Everyone laughed as he sat down, and Mr. Good- 
win turned to the ex-president, who got to his feet 
saying, "When you are ready to go after those 
trout let me know, I like to catch my own fish, oc- 
casionally." Then suddenly becoming serious, he 
said, "No thoughtful mind in these times regards 
the present state of human society as other than 
grave. In the days of my political activity I verily 
thought that legislation of the right kind would in 
time, bring peace ; but now I am convinced that the 
disease of the body social is too complex and deep 
seated to be healed by political nostrums. We look 
to the churches to find a remedy, but, so far, they 
have failed us. All they seem to be able to do is 
to preach at the discontented to be thankful for 
being permitted to live on earth, and to promise 
them a glorious home in another world. But the 
churches one and all have lost their hold on the 
masses of men. Moral progress seems at a stand- 
still. The race, in its present state, is like a mighty 
river stopped in its onward flow by an insurmount- 
able obstruction, whose currents are eddying and 
swirling with ever increasing force seeking an out- 
let. Not much longer will this resistless energy be 
confined, and when it once breaks loose it will 
sweep all before it. The barrier, of course is the 
industrial system of the present, which has ceased 



28 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



to function harmoniously, which seemingly is ready 
to go to pieces from its own weight. 

4 'We have a vision of a new and better state of 
human society, but how to attain it we know not; 
for the very nature of such a system as we desire 
makes violence necessary to its attainment; but 
violence is not scientific and is therefore a wrong 
method. If some start is not made toward it to 
relieve the strain and stress on humanity I fear 
there will be violence from the more restless spirits; 
and violence is never constructive for its root is 
hate. Hate never builds; it always pulls down. I 
find that human minds have reached a very peculiar 
state, for almost every one we meet wants their 
neighbor to be a good Christian and exercise all 
the graces of that character towards him, while he 
himself proposes to remain in his original selfish- 
ness. The laborer is fretted against the employer 
of labor and blames him for everything that is 
wrong, but he; the laborer, don't love his fellow- 
men as himself by any manner of means. It is as 
though humanity was one large family, the older 
members of whom have taken charge of the estate, 
and are managing it to suit themselves. And while 
living in luxury and without manual labor them- 
selves, insist on the younger brothers and sisters 
doing the necessary work; allowing them just 
enough to support them; insisting, the while, that 
they are incapable of handling property, and must 
remain minors forever. The younger members of 
the family, meanwhile, selfish and quarrelsome have 
no power of uniting to assert their rights. So the 
family discord goes on and increases with time. It 
seems almost to have reached its climax now. 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



29 



"I have tried to point out to groups of laboring 
men with whom I have talked, that the great 
corporations — the big business — did not grow to 
their present power by political activities, but in- 
dustrial. They started in a small way, and grew 
naturally because they ministered to the needs of 
men. They were necessary and, therefore, right; 
and the fact that they now seem an obstacle to a 
forward movement is because that class whose inter- 
ests seem to make a change necessary, are not wise 
enough, or progressive enough, to pattern after the 
methods of big business. Our type of political gov- 
ernment is the best so far devised by man; but the 
experiences of the last decade has shown that, 
though we have democratic political machinery we 
have an autocratic system of industry and distri- 
bution that cannot be controlled by the government. 
In some families there are children hard to control, 
and others who are yielding. It sometimes happens 
that the yielding ones are compelled by the parents 
to give up their rights to the autocrats of the 
family to keep peace — a very uncertain sort of 
peace it must be admitted, and liable to be disturbed 
at any time the overbearing members make new 
claims. This is true of human governments. The 
sympathies of the official class are, mostly, with 
those who have position and prestige. They are 
equals in education and in prrysical environment. 
It is easy to subdue the laboring classes. They are 
crude in their demands, and in their efforts at 
bettering their conditions, yet their demands are 
right and proper. They ask only for a state of 
affairs that would make it impossible for them- 
selves or their children to be reduced to beggary. 



30 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Modern inventions has reduced the need for so many 
men in the world, and the moral and spiritual ad- 
vancement of the human family has not kept pace 
with material progress; or our present problems 
would long ago have been settled on the basis of 
justice. The fact that a man is in the world, proves 
that God wants him here; and that he has an in- 
herent right to a share in that which has been so 
liberally provided for the race. A change is sure 
to come. May it come naturally and harmoniously, 
and none be wronged by its coming. I am hoping 
for a Moses who shall lead the people into new con- 
ditions, that shall be the Kingdom of heaven on 
earth." 

The farmer was on his feet as soon as the ex- 
president whom I shall call Mr. Perkins sat down, 
saying, "I believe we have found out what to do 
with our ex-presidents. We will set them to work 
to reform present abuses. If Mr. Perkins proclaimed 
himself the Moses who would lead the world to so- 
cial righteousness, and industrial peace, I would 
surely become a follower. Of course, I know that 
the efforts of the farming class to make the returns 
for their labor more stable, is a selfish method of 
reform, yet who can blame them if they don't see 
any farther than the end of their noses. They are 
on the same plane as the teacher who wants a larger 
salary, a palatial residence, and a pension for old 
age. A preacher who labors hard for an increase 
of his income; or one of these numerous reformers 
in the world who are so liberal with other people's 
money, but who are never known to be generous 
with their own. They are about as logical as the 
laborers who demand an increase in wages and a 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 31 



decrease in hours and in the cost of living in the 
same breadth, not caring that the farmers' entire 
family works at least twice as long each day for 
less than twenty-five cents for each member. 

"It is not very hard to believe that the human 
family, as a whole, has taken leave of their senses 
when we ponder on all these conflicting demands. 
I have been, in the past, very active in promoting 
organizations among farmers. My family, I think, 
have been farmers since the time of Noah; so I 
understand my class, and sympathize with their 
struggles naturally. They have much to contend 
with even though they may have an assured and 
generous income now. Of late years I have begun 
to understand that we need a radical change in our 
industrial system, for the farmers has no inheritance 
to leave his children. The disposition of the young 
of this generation seems to be to get away from 
the drudgery of farm life, to the cities where they 
can be always in genteel attire, and at work that 
has shorter hours. The life, the movement, the 
brightness of city life appeals to young untried 
minds. To be sure city editors are working over- 
time to urge them back to the farm, while they, 
themselves cling to their city desks — perhaps so 
they can keep on advising. 

"Who can blame the young for this movement? 
It is natural. Of course it is fraught with danger, 
but the young have no danger in their conscious- 
ness. They are in love with life, and human com- 
panionship, and cannot find it on the farm. But,, 
though, the young might be willing to walk in their 
father's footsteps, there is no very good prospects 
for them. Suppose a farmer has three or four 



82 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



hundred acres of good land, and five sons. While 
those sons are minors they all labor together and 
prosperity insues; but when they come to man's 
estate, even though the father might put every- 
thing into their hands, each new family formed 
could not live in as good a home, or style as the 
original family. Therefore discontent and change, 
perhaps to the city to earn more follows; adding 
to the unnatural congestion of the centers of popu- 
lation. Not many farmers own so much land, and 
the less acres and poorer quality of the soil, make 
prospects worse. 

"From now on conditions in our country will 
grow more and more like the conditions of the labor- 
ing masses of Europe ; and will result in the same 
terrible disorders we know to be taking place over 
there. There is no more public land to be settled 
in our country by individuals, for what remains is 
so poor that one man with limited capital could do 
nothing. If it were possible for large numbers with 
sufficient capital to combine their capital and labor, 
much might be done: but where is the leader that 
can awaken enthusiasm for the work? There is 
enough of such land in all parts of our nation that 
would afford refuge for thousands of our people, 
where they could add manufacturing to their farm- 
ing industries; do all their work cooperatively, and 
build up for themselves sure habitations. Such 
work has been done in our own country, by a band 
of very peculiar people, the shakers. In my native 
state a society of these people became so aged — 
for their peculiar tenets drive the young away so 
the society cannot perpetuate itself — that they asked 
for a receiver to manage for them. It was found 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



33 



that by their own labor, added to increased land 
values, they had attained wealth amounting to about, 
fifty thousand dollars per capita, for men and wo- 
men alike. And they were not modern in their 
methods, They clung to the old ways of farming, 
and used very little labor saving machinery. 

"It may be, that we will, in the future see an 
exodus from our cities into new realms of human 
activity on new methods. I have always contended 
that a child, who- could not climb apple trees and 
gather their own fruit, who could not go fishing 
Saturday afternoon, was cheated of their birth 
right. An apple, peach, and cherry tree for every 
child in the land will enable our young to grow 
up normally, and do more to make good citizens 
than all the officials, courts, and welfare societies 
in the world. A bath in every home, electric lights 
and all the modern conveniences in all the homes 
of the land will make happy mothers, and an as- 
surance of enough income to provide, as all men 
should, for themselves and families will keep the 
average man content, if the labor to get it does not 
degenrate into drudgery. Human beings are not 
unreasonable. They are moderate in their desires. 
If men did not desire some of the products of a 
civilized age they would be incapable of moral 
progress. To desire constantly, better homes and 
all that goes with better homes, is evidence that 
God intended that all should eventually share 
equaully in the good things of earth; and if good- 
will was universal we would surely find the way to 
that desirable state. 

Manufacturers who send out shoes with paper 
heels, and ask two prices for them, are very quick 



34 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



to cry bolsheviki when the workmen groan from 
the continual labor and uncertainty of their exist- 
ence; but the real bolsheviki is the same knavish 
rich man who cares only for pelf, and is not human 
enough to have good will towards anyone. If the 
laboring classes in the cities had the proper pride, 
they would walk away from oppression and found, 
for themselves and their children, a community 
where the wage question or hours of labor would 
never again annoy. The interests of all labor pro- 
ducing wealth is identical, though some labor on 
their own farms and some in the factory of the cities ; 
for the farmers' children are going to the cities, 
and some from the cities, would if they knew how, 
get back to the farms. 

"What humanity needs is partnership in all in- 
dustries, and so all would be bettered. It is not 
good for any family to have great wealth. In the 
case of all families, who are wealthy for genera- 
tions there is almost sure to be physical defects, un- 
less there is a strain of great good sense to counter- 
balance the disposition to self indulgence. Few are 
the families that continue to make mental and 
spiritual progress; for great wealth is a greater 
detriment to moral progres than great poverty. 
We do not need much property in this world so 
much as we need continuity of opportunity. I would 
rather leave to my children an interest in a stable 
co-operative industry, than great wealth; and if I 
knew that a reasonable amount of activity would be 
required of them, I would feel better satisfied. Un- 
employment is disastrous to the young, and I am 
convinced that before long rich parents will be in 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 35 



favor of some sort of system that will keep their 
children busy a good share of their time. 

"The laboring classes do not need a change of 
system one whit more than the more favored ones. 
The progress of the race depends on proper em- 
ployment for all classes alike. A new industrial 
system should bring just that; and so that change 
is what all thinking people desire. Let us build up 
a system that shall bring peace, and provide a safe 
way for the young of the race to enjoy life and 
brightness. The dreariness and monotony of the 
average home is appalling. I have no plan; I am 
waiting expectantly." 

Mr. Holmes, the traveler and reformer, was on 
his feet instantly. "I have just returned from 
Europe, but will not harrow your souls with the 
suffering I witnessed there. Surely there is some 
lasting and radical remedy for the awful conditions 
that exist over there. It seems that the hate and 
resentment generated by the oppression and hope- 
lessness of the people will never cease its destruc- 
tiveness as long as there is a victim left. And the 
racial hate is as bad as that toward the actual 
transgressors — plutocratic rulers. All the op- 
pressed of those lands are looking towards us for 
help. May God help humanity, for vain is the help 
of man." And the speaker sat down too overcome 
by emotions for further speech. Major White was 
the next, and he told us that his family was not 
really warlike; and that as he had only daughters 
there would be no more soldiers ; and voiced the hope 
that the race would build up such a system as to 
make wars impossible. We are men first, and there- 
fore, have human affections. Competition is war, 



36 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



and war is hell, were his concluding remarks ; which 
showed that he had studied other subjects than 
merely military ones. 

The college president, Mr. Owens was the next 
speaker, and he told us that his ideal was a world 
where all were refined and cultured, but he was 
rather busy and had never given thought to the 
necessity of a new industrial order to pave the way 
to that ideal. He had always considered the labor- 
er, who demanded radical changes, a dangerous 
person. Seeing such men as were present deliber- 
ating on the necessity of change was an eye-opener 
to him. He certainly desired such change as was 
necessary to permit the race to become universally 
intelligent. The young are becoming restless, and 
hard to manage and perhaps this itself is a sign of 
change which must come in the evolution of the 
race, he continued. As he sat down, Judge Good- 
win nodded to the social settlement worker, Mr. 
El win, who had once been pastor of a rich city 
church, but had given up his large salary to labor 
for the moral betterment of tenement dwellers of 
our city. 

''I am as you know a reformed preacher," he be- 
gan with a smile at Mr. Aiken who was an old 
acquaintance. "I became tired of trying to do any- 
thing for the spiritual uplift of the self-indulgent 
rich of the flock I presided over. In justice though, 
I must say that many of that flock were kind of 
heart, and generous in giving. As I had a small 
private fortune I decided to follow my natural bent, 
and work among the poor who have so much more 
in their lives to cause them to stray from the right 
path. My sympathies have always been with those 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



37 



who were victims, not beneficiaries of this system. 

" After years of working among the poor and 
realizing that results in building up desirable char- 
acter has not been encouraging, I have come to the 
conclusion that when the struggle for existence be- 
comes so strenuous, that the tense and strained 
state of consciousness prevents mental growth. The 
good man of old who prayed: 'Give me neither 
poverty or riches,' was scientific. The good things 
of this world in return for a moderate amount of 
labor is certainly the best state. If we could have 
a change so that every citizen, during youth, would 
be employed a part of each day at useful labor we 
would soon see a greatly improved race. I know 
it would make immediate change in many who are 
now so harassed by uncertainty that they can give 
no thought to anything but their unhappy state. 
"We certainly need a new system, and I trust it may 
be built up in the near future." 

Judge Goodwin looked at Mr. Somers, but that 
gentleman shook his head saying, "I will hear what 
you have to say." " Perhaps Ralph would like a 
word in this discussion," said the father turning 
to his son, but Ralph declined. ' ' 1 would rather 
hear your opinions father." "Yes, Goodwin, let 
us hear from you," exclaimed the college president 
who was an old friend of college days. 

Judge Goodwin rose quietly to his feet saying, 
"I have a confession to make. I too am in a state 
of unrest, and discord. I am out of harmony with 
existence. The things that once made life joyous 
do not seem to be sufficient longer to satisfy. Some- 
thing is wrong in my environment, that I cannot 
reason away. The thoughts of sitting in judgment 



38 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



on my erring fellow-beings has become so obnoxious 
to me that I have my resignation already in the 
proper hands. Never again will I condemn any to 
imprisonment, or death for crimes, for which they 
are only in part responsible. For the thought of 
the whole race is set as a mighty current, towards 
material riches, and the weak are carried with the 
current. The greed of the strong prevents the weak 
from attaining enough of necessities so they steal. 

"No man is honest who wants more than an equal 
share of this world's wealth. I am therefore a dis- 
honest man. If this present system of things was the 
right one man would make moral progress under 
it; but instead, we find in every strata of society a 
lowered spiritual tone, and a coarser moral fibre 
while actual criminality is increasing at a rate that 
is truly terrifying. Our judicial system has no 
power to restrain men from crime ; and the spectacle 
of thousands of supposedly good men, sitting in 
judgment on the weak, utterly devoid of any hu- 
mane sentiment, caring nothing for their moral 
state, doing nothing to awaken a moral sense in 
them, shows that human governments divorced 
from divine law is a soulless machine. 

"I have caused investigation to be made in many 
large cities, because of complaints of victims and 
learned that city officials, almost universally, prey 
upon the homeless and friendless laboring men who 
go to the cities to find human companionship. A 
man may earn a sum of money or he may be pos- 
sessed of only a small amount. It matters not, if 
he comes under the notice of the police. The police 
courts of the cities usually fine him all he carries 
with him, if the arresting officers has left anything 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



39 



in his pockets. Even watches and pocket knives 
are not too small for some of them. If the victim 
makes complaint, who is there so low in onr grand 
nation that would take the word of a laboring man, 
without home and friends, against a well-fed and 
well dressed officer, intent on the protection of our 
cities? I believe the tremendous increase of crimes 
against property has its root in this dreadful state 
of affairs. And our Christian public love to have 
it so, but when some wretched man in redress enters 
their homes and robs them, what a wail of woe we 
hear about the criminal classes? If so-called Chris- 
tians were really Christian, we would see more of 
them visiting their mentally deformed brothers in 
the jails and prisons of our land; and their sym- 
pathy once aroused would lessen the hate of our 
weak brothers and prevent them from trying to get 
even for the injustice they suffer. 

"I had in my early life a lawyer friend, who be- 
came prosecuting attorney for a rapidly growing 
western town, and a great part of his work was 
with boys just out of school who, away from home 
for the first time perhaps, and finding themselves 
out of funds knew no other way than to forge 
checks. While he was busy gathering them in-— 
and they certainly had to be restrained — his own 
son, a high school boy, committed the same foolish 
act. You can easily imagine how a father would 
feel in such a ease. It set me to thinking more 
deeply than ever, and the result of that thought 
brought me to where I stand today. If after a life 
of punishing others for crimes against society, my 
own children should become law-breakers, life would 



40 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



not be successful for me; even though I might hold 
an enviable position among my kind. 

""When I first began my investigations I was 
much impressed by the spiritual apathy and inertia 
of the mass of the people. I was almost persuaded 
to go out as an evangelist to turn the hearts ol 
men back to God; but after studying the work. of 
those so engaged I became convinced that their 
message was not the one needed. To be sure it was 
just what was wanted; but even the Gospel seemed 
to need a new method of approach to men. It was 
offered as a means of escape to a better world, not 
as a means to make this a better world. When I 
went deeply into a study of Scripture, I learned 
why the message as presented by the churches was 
inadequate ; for they had dropped the half of the 
message pertaining to the building up of God's King- 
dom on earth. In the minds of the Christian public, 
there seemed to be an idea that the Kingdom had 
no relation to anything human or practical. They 
were commanded to pray for God's will to be done 
on earth, the same as in the heavens; but that they 
had any duties to perform in building up a system 
that would make it impossible for little children to 
be deprived of shoes and proper attire, or for their 
mother's to bring them forth for lives of poverty 
never entered their heads. 

4 4 The careful conduct of their worldly business, 
the careful rearing and so-called education of their 
children, and their attendance at the religious exer- 
cises of their respective churches, seem to satisfy 
the average Christian that he is performing his 
whole duty towards God and man. And this way 
of teaching Christianity, combined with this atti- 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



41 



tude towards practical affairs has resulted in pro- 
ducing material and infidel minds in their children ; 
for as they themselves follow the world thought 
about all their worldly affairs, their children can 
do no better. They are taught in effect to make 
peace with God to insure a place of eternal residence 
when they must leave this world; and just as sure- 
ly as they are taught this by precept, they are 
taught by example to value the good things of this 
world as the highest good. 

"Whenever the young of our nation congregate 
in institutions of learning, even in denominational 
colleges where Christian parents believe their off- 
spring are safe from contamination of infidelity, 
we find unbelief rampant among the majority. 
These beardless boys and rosy cheeked maidens 
question the existence of God; and fill their minds 
with isms in their unscientific efforts to find some- 
thing real tangible and satisfying in the bottomless 
abysm of their own ignorance. Many very wise 
magazine writers discourse at length, and with 
every appearance of knowing what they are talking 
about, but their diagnosis of the disease, and the 
remedy these moral doctors prescribe, are as misty 
and nebulous as the remotest systems of the milky 
way. 

The truth of the matter is that our youth, who 
are favored to the extent of getting an education 
at college, are having too easy a time. They are 
removed from home influence. They are left in 
large measure to their own mental devices. All 
their environs are out of .harmony with nature. 
They have no responsibilities. Nothing to think of 
but themselves. They are really in great moral 



42 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



danger. What can we do to set matters right in 
this respect ? Under what conditions can our youth 
be educated, so that results shall be more satis- 
factory? These young people represent the best 
homes in any nation. They are suffering from 
spiritual dyspepsia and it is a serious malady. Fed 
spiritually on the finest of the wheat, the material- 
istic attitude of the Christian public to practical 
righteousness, prevents them from an exercise of 
the spiritual graces. They do nothing for others 
— or if they do a kindly deed it only increases their 
love of self — and are a sad case of arrested develop- 
ment. 

"No zeal or rhetoric could possibly bring them to 
a state of health but a radical reform in human 
affairs will give them opportunity for the exercise 
so necessary to growth. And too there are the mil- 
lions of young who must work at least the greater 
part of the year. These have leisure for only a 
common school a few months in winter. Morally 
and spiritually they are not one whit behind the 
more favored, for they too may have a Christian 
ancestry. This class will accept enlarged oppor- 
tunity more earnestly than the other. 

"When I first became convinced that our judicial 
system was a total failure, as far as lessening crime 
was concerned; I thought of trying to reform it, 
but I knew of no incentive that would make re- 
formers of judges and lawyers, and so gave that 
up. Wherever I turned I saw evils and an ever 
increasing tendency towards materialism. In des- 
pair, then, I took up the study of Scripture, to see 
if there was any hope for mankind. I found there 
that God is a God of hope; and there can be no 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



43 



despair to a race of people sane enough to follow 
the leading of the mind that fills the universe, and 
yet will take up his residence in the heart that is 
wise enough to learn of God. I learned too that 
God has been working through all times to set up 
on earth the same type of government that exists 
in the perfected planets, or heaven. And when 
Christ came to earth it was his only purpose to 
prepare citizens for the kingdom of the Father; 
and he called upon men to reform their minds by 
truth, because that Kingdom was near. The incen- 
tive he offered for obedience to law was life that 
was not subject to cessation, and the way to attain 
life is simply to have the same kind of mind that 
He possessed. 

The intervening centuries since Christ began this 
work has been a time of discipline by the oppres- 
sions and martyrdom men have suffered to spirit- 
ualize their faculties, and bring them to that state 
of intelligence that would enable them to overcome 
oppression ; for every onward movement of the race 
has come as a result of effort to obey the commands 
of Christ. Without Christianity the race could 
have made no advance; but with it we have hope 
that mankind will never stop until human society 
will be governed by the same law that rules in the 
universe of Spirit, and force will be forgotten by 
a world redeemed from the animal plane of thought. 

"No one will deny that our type of government 
is the best ever attained among men, and if men 
were perfect there is no doubt it would continue 
to be satisfactory; but the combination of a dem- 
ocratic political machine, plutocratic industrial sys- 
tem, and commercial piracy requires great states- 



44 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



rnenship to keep it constantly adjusted so it will 
function harmoniously. In fact we are finding out, 
as has been pointed out here this evening, that our 
government cannot control all the elements in our 
nation. If we undertake to settle all these disputes 
by legislation the controversies will last as long as 
that of the tariff. 

"When Gabriel sounds the last trumpet, our wise 
law-makers will still be disputing acrimoniously 
which is the better plan; a protective tariff or one 
for revenue only. The workers of the world are all 
out of harmony with the employers of labor. They 
feel that their position is uncertain. They may be 
employed all of the time at good wages, but that 
gives them no assurance for the future. They are 
restless, dissatisfied, belligerent. They demand cer- 
tain things that shall make their future more secure. 
They insist on legislation that will benefit ; but it is 
all inadequate, unnatural, and therefore unscientific. 
Their ideals of a perfect society are vague. They 
have no practical plan for the bringing in of better 
things; yet they have a sure conviction that better 
things are coming and let us trust that their hope 
is not in vain. 

"All this unbelief, all this questioning of creeds 
and doctrines, which were never questioned by past 
generations, all social unrest, all the resentment of 
those who feel themselves wronged by institutions 
which have existed for centuries ; is an indication 
that God, the Spirit, is again moving over the face 
of the waters, because the new heavens and new 
earth of God's creating is about to appear; and 
these are, as Christ announced, signs of that appear- 
ing. 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



15 



"Is God's will being done on earth today? Are 
not all our institutions built upon foundations that 
will forever hinder God's will from being done? 
What type of government would permit God's will 
to be done, and exalt the law of the spiritual world? 
Have we as men any responsibility in bringing about 
better things, and attempting at least, to cure the 
unrest that is caused by our industrial system? 
After so many centuries of effort and prayer that 
God's will may be done on earth, we find that there 
never was a time when God's will was so persist- 
ently set at defiance as now; and this fact has 
developed within me a conviction that when we, 
the children of God, 'pray' for God's Kingdom to 
come, and do nothing to establish the conditions 
under which God's will can be done; we are very 
inconsistent, indeed, and are in danger of being 
classed by our master among the Pharisees. 

"Let us suppose for an instant that every man 
who called himself Christian really loved God, and 
his neighbor. If we did, what kind of people would 
we be? Love is not passive good- will. It is not 
even manifested by giving the poor a meal or article 
of clothing at Christmas time. Love is the intelli- 
gence of the Divine Mind. If we really were actu- 
ated by the divine intelligence, we would see in 
every other human being the soul that shall in time 
attain to God-likeness. We would be as eager for 
each soul to enjoy as much of the goodness of God, 
as we desire for ourselves; for our own families; 
and that love would constrain us to renewed and 
continuous activity, not only to turn each soul to 
the right-thinking of God, it would also constrain 
us to establish such conditions that each child of 



46 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



God should be an equal participant in all the good 
things which have been so lavishly provided for all 
the children of men. 

' 'There is no doubt in the minds of any here that 
God is the rightful ruler and King of all the people 
of the earth. There is no question as to his right 
to our allegiance to his law. Every Sabbath day 
we pray 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and 
renew a right spirit within me,' and then we ignore 
through the week, all the leadings of the spiritual 
world, and go about our daily affairs as though 
we cared for none of these things. God's voice 
has been saying through many centuries, 'Make 
straight paths for the feet of the weak, lest they 
be turned out of the way.' Has the 'church' ever 
tried to obey this command? Has it ever even 
pondered its meaning? 

"Is not the time ripe for the Christian world to 
awake to the necessity of making straight paths, 
of building a highway on which the race can travel 
back to God. The very fact that God commands 
us to gather out the stones, cast up a highway, and 
lift up a standard for the people, is evidence that 
as rapidly as we obey we will be given power and 
wisdom to go forward. The Word is a complete 
exposition of the mind of God. We know from a 
study of that Word just what is in the mind of 
God; and what His purpose is toward the human 
family. We can easily learn what He wishes us to 
do. The conditions on earth after His Kingdom is 
established are just those conditions, which we feel 
would cure all the unrest, misery, transgression, and 
insanities of the race; and set them on a road of 
continuous and harmonious progress toward God. 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 47 

"We know what God commands. We know the in- 
dustrial and social conditions that would fulfill 
those demands. Let us therefore quit ourselves like 
men, and labor to set up on earth a type of govern- 
ment which shall lessen the unnatural struggle for 
subsistence ; and enable us to go forward in our 
search for the Kingdom of heaven along harmonious 
and scientific lines! 

"When we study the Word and learn the nature 
of the Kingdom which Christ came to establish we 
see that it will satisfy all the needs of the human 
family. When we survey humanity in its present 
disordered state, we cannot but long for better 
conditions for all men; for our present state of 
civilization is very crude indeed, and if no other 
conditions were possible for mankind we might ques- 
tion the wisdom of our Maker. Human discord, 
suffering, insanity, and hate have reached the apex; 
and fulfill those conditions which Christ described 
as preceding the setting up of His kingdom: The 
sea, and the waves of humanity roaring, and the 
minds of all men filled with perplexity in consider- 
ing the problems of these times. 

"And the conclusion, we are compelled to accept 
when taking all these things into consideration is 
that a man's religious and political duties are 
identical, since both demand that he use all his 
energies to establish on earth those industrial con- 
ditions which permit God's will to be done, as it is 
in the heavens. After we thus understand that the 
Kingdom of heaven means an industrial system based 
on the law that governs the spiritual world; and 
we know the raee will make no more moral pro- 
gress until it is established, it would be inconsistent, 



48 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



unmanly, and even insane, to go on praying to God 
to establish His kingdom, and do nothing ourselves 
for its appearing. The entire responsibility of 
rearing this noble structure, which shall be the 
'Highway of Life,' and open up the path of con- 
tinuous and harmonious spiritual progress, rests 
upon us. 

' 'God, the Spirit of life, is the intelligence and 
we are the agents to carry out His will. We have 
been asleep and dreaming all sorts of vague and 
intangible dreams about Christ coming to end wrong 
and transgression in some mystical way; and so 
spare us all self-denial and manly activity for our 
fellows. We have dreamed of being taken into His 
kingdom without any effort on our part; and we 
certainly would not feel at home in such a society, 
for we would have no part in building it up. The 
Kingdom of God is tangible, and deals with the 
practical affairs of men. It has to do with the 
question of good shoes, and warm attire for all 
men, women and children. It deals with homes for 
all people. It is based on the question of providing 
for every human being the same conditions of life, 
of mental, spiritual and physical development, that 
wise parents desire for their own offspring. And 
the love of Christ constrains us to deny self if 
necessary to hasten on such a glorious work. 

"It is humane, it is scientific, it is a spiritual re- 
form for which the whole creation is groaning ; and 
there is no peace and can be no peace, until it is 
established. Individual ownership of created good 
is diametrically opposed to the law of the Kingdom 
of heaven. Christ said: 'If ye are not faithful in 
the unrighteous mammon who will give you the true 



POUNDING THE HIGHWAY 4i) 

riches?' If ye are not faithful with that which is 
another man's who shall give you that which is 
your own ? Now the evident meaning of this is that 
all material, created, and visible good belongs to 
God. He created it for all the children of men. He 
has never given up His claim upon it ; but mankind, 
by wrong institutions has shut out the vast majority 
from participation in the good that God has pro- 
vided for all the race. These conditions are based 
upon the selfish thought of the animal man for him- 
self. They are artificial, temporary. They have 
proved themselves inadequate to minister to the 
progress of the race. They are the sole cause of 
war, for the spirit of commercialism is war. 'Every 
plant that the heavenly Father hath not planted 
must be rooted out;' and in its place must be built 
up an institution founded on the thought of God 
for the whole human family. The institutions of 
the present and past, is Babylon, confusion; that 
structure which must be raised is Jerusalem, City 
of Peace; and instead of competition, instead of 
commercialism, must be cooperation. The same 
production, the same industries, must continue to 
minister to the multitudious needs of the race; but 
the spirit of good, and not of greed, must be the 
motive power; and when the stress and strain is 
removed from human minds, the hearts of men will 
turn towards God as naturally as flowers turn to- 
wards the sun; for the race must learn that the 
service of God is the service of humanity, and is 
the road to intellectual perfection. 

"When the divine intelligence, the Spirit came 
upon the assembled disciples at Pentecost, they 
were of one heart and one soul; neither said that 



50 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



any the goods he possessed were his own, for they 
had all things common. They received such a 
measure of intelligence, of the love that is the Divine 
Mind that their moral natures were instantly set 
right, all the faculties of their minds became har- 
monious, and natural things fell into their true 
place. They were of secondary importance. They 
recognized the Spirit as the source of all good — for 
had they not seen Christ feed the multitude? And 
this knowledge made them supremely unconcerned 
about the outward and visible. This condition was 
necessary to them on account of the work that was 
required of them. They were all to go forth and 
teach, and thus prepared, they knew their material 
wants would be supplied. 'Seek ye first the King- 
dom,' said Christ, 'For your Father knoweth your 
material needs and will supply them.' 

"This state of affairs was not permanent. Few 
souls had attained to such a spiritual condition. 
This was the seeding time of the Kingdom. Christ 
had just begun sowing the seed-thought which 
should in time leaven human society, and result 
in the harvest of the ages. We are waiting for that 
harvest now, and while we wait why should we not 
lay the foundation for a new industrial system; 
which being based on the law of the spiritual world, 
shall, when fully established, enable us to do God's 
will joyfully and perfectly in this present life? We 
have the whole character and will of God made 
known to us in the Word. He has spared no pains 
to make himself known. The whole purpose of God 
for humanity is spread before us. He tells us, over 
and over again, what pleases Him; how to order 
our thoughts and life to win His approval. 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 51 



"The whole Book is filled with such admonitions 
as these: 'Let not the mighty glory in his might; 
the wise in his wisdom; the rich in his riches; but 
let him glory in his understanding that I am God 
that exercises loving kindness, judgment and right- 
thinking on the earth.' Learn to do well. Seek 
judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the 
fatherless. Plead for the widow.' These commands 
are just as binding on us as to seek the Kingdom of 
God, and establish its laws in our own soul. That 
comes first, of necessity, and fits us for their larger 
service. Without that we could never attain to the 
spiritual state that will enable us to turn others to 
the right thinking of God. 

"In this, our country, we, who have reached 
man's estate have political rights which we hold 
sacred. We can associate ourselves together for 
political action. We can, by arousing an interest 
in a sufficient number have laws passed which we 
consider necessary. We could, if a large enough 
number were of the same mind, change the funda- 
mental law of our nation. We could even change 
our government completely without force, without 
bloodshed if the majority so desired. Each man 
also who may have learned some truth which has 
helped his own spiritual growth may make that 
truth known to others in any way he may see fit. 
We are thus become kings, and priests. We are — 
each of us — under such conditions responsible to 
God for the use we make of our rights and privi- 
leges. We, the Christian manhood of this nation 
can make straight paths for the feet of the weak; 
we can establish right-thinking, judgment, and lov- 
ing kindness in the earth. We can seek judgment, 



52 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless; protect 
all the helpless of earth, and woe unto us, if for 
any reason we do not use our enegries for this 
purpose. 

"God is working for this purpose. Christ is 
working with the Father. The spiritual princes 
of the unseen, though real world are working to 
bring this earth and all its inhabitants under the 
same law that governs them; and if we have the 
spirit of sons we will work to the extent of our 
ability to set up those conditions on earth which 
we know will be pleasing to our God, and our 
leader, His Son. Now, when I approach the practi- 
cal application of this knowledge, to the affairs of 
this world I hesitate, but I know as we go forward 
in the path of truth, the light and power to proceed 
will be given us; for God has commanded it, and 
his commands — unlike those of men — carry with 
them the power to perform. I am convinced however 
that the activities required to establish righteous 
government will be industrial, as well as political, 
and the industrial is the more important. The other 
only a means to a desired end. 

"When the founders of our government signed 
their declaration of freedom from the mother coun- 
try they pledged to each other their support to the 
extent of lives, fortunes, and honor, but we are not 
entering on such a warfare. We are beginning a 
work which all sensible men will appreciate when 
they understand it ; which many will participate in 
when the opportunity is offered ; which unites in 
itself so many things that will benefit mankind, that 
it might be termed the whole way or as prophecy 
expresses it the way of holiness. So perfect will 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 53 



this way become, that we are told those who travel 
therein shall not eer, though they may be totally 
lacking in judgment. 

"Thpse of us who hear the voice of God in His 
word; and in the babel of the world's confusion 
and unrest, will be glad to unite the use of our 
mental energies and the material goods bestowed 
on us to set up an industrial system on the law of 
the spiritual world; which as it expands and grows 
will include all the workers of earth, and provide 
for a continuous growth in character and intelli- 
gence. When we consider the fundamental needs 
of the human family we find that food comes first. 
High and low, rich and poor, learned or ignorant 
are all alike. And if each individual of the race 
was compelled to till the earth to obtain his own 
food supply there would not be so much difference 
in the mental and monetary endowments of human 
beings as now exists. In other words, if part of 
the human family did not take so naturally to hard 
and continuous labor, the rest of us would have 
very little time for lives of elegant leisure. If we 
therefore have benefitted by these things a sense 
of justice should impel us to give all the powers of 
our mind to the establishment of the best possible 
conditions for those who so nobly serve, even though 
their service seems to spring from selfish motives. 

"These are the conditions that exist in the world 
today to cause all thinking men to desire a coopera- 
tive industrial society. First comes the prevention 
of war. War will never cease in human society 
while competition continues; while private owner- 
ship of created good continues. There are different 
manifestations than warfare between nations. There 



54 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



are thefts, embezzlements, grafting, and murder ; all 
are war and all spring from the same cause. God 
will make wars to cease by the enlightenment of 
men that will build according to His law. God will 
give peace, but He will give it to those who obey 
all His commands. 

"Then we have as a second motive, the security 
and continued prosperity of our offspring through- 
out time. No man with a conscience can look up- 
on his own little children and desire that they should 
become shrewd money-makers, even though they 
might be capable of developing into that character; 
and when he contemplates the tender and timid 
who would surely be trampled in the wild scramble 
of the world, the outlook is terrible. All men with 
a man's heart desires his own offspring to be pro- 
tected from the fate he knows may happen. Thus 
you see we all unconsciously wish our fellowmen to 
be better Christians than we are willing to be; for 
we know that if all men were really Christian, the 
conditions of life could never be so hard as we 
know them to be for the majority of the human 
family. 

"Third, we have the command of God to make 
straight paths for the feet of the weak; to secure 
justice for all, to insure to those that labor a full 
reward for their work; in other words to remove 
the cause of discord between human souls to banish 
from human institutions the temptation to crime; 
to exorcise hate, so that the love of God may have 
a chance to enter every mind and His Kingdom of 
love be established in every heart. This last in- 
centive to activity in this great work is the highest 
of all — although the others may appeal to us strong- 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 55 



ly at times — for this is the mind of God made known 
to us, and this mind cannot fail of its purpose. So 
if we join ourselves to God we are sure of success." 

Dr. Aiken sprang to his feet with alacrity, ex- 
claiming, "Brother Goodwin, I am enlightened. I 
used to feel hurt that you did not lend us your 
influence, in the social work of the church. Yoa 
have certainly spent your time to a good purpose. 
I am with you heart and soul, and the small amount 
I have saved to educate my children as they grow 
up, I will gladly contribute to help establish the 
first societjr; for I realize that such an inheritance 
would be worth more to them than all the wealth 
in the world bestowed upon them personally, if I 
had it to bestow. I have often thought there was 
enough goodness in the world — enough of the love 
of God- — to make a heaven of this earth if it was 
onlj' organized. But human society in its present 
state is an unorganized mob, and would continue 
to be so forever if this state of things existed for- 
ever. I see light ahead for which I thank God. I 
too have been distressed over the uncertainties of 
human conditions when I look at my precious 
children. ' ' 

In turn each of those present expressed a hope 
that a system such as outlined by Mr. Goodwin 
would be established, for those at least who felt 
injured by the competitive system. Most of them 
were moderately rich, yet they agreed that the un- 
settled state of human affairs had caused them 
grave fears for the future of their children. The 
captain of industry expressed a perfect willingness 
that better conditions should be attained by all who 
labor. "Having no offspring I have no ambitions 



56 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



to found a great estate for future generations; and 
if I see a practical work began, I shall help it 
along, " he added warmly. 

Mr. Soniers the banker had not taken any part 
in the conversation before, but now rose saying: 
" Several years ago I began to learn that wealth 
does not satisfy. My wife and I have often talked 
about it, and its effect upon our children. Mrs, 
Soniers has been a sincere Christian all her life, and 
I was raised by Christian parents. From them I 
inherited a well ordered methodical nature. From 
them I also inherited a puritan conscience; yet I 
have been a very worldly man, giving all my ener- 
gies to business, because I loved the activities it 
provided. Years ago, when my sons were still 
school boys, I began to lose interest in a measure 
in mere money getting, though the weariness did 
not reach the acute stage till much later. 

1 'Each year there was less zest for business. I 
thought it was advancing age, though I was barely 
past middle life. I consulted Dr. Mowbray here, 
and he advised recreation. Too close application 
to business was his ultimatum. Nothing seemed 
wrong with my body, I was just weary in my mind. 
When I lay down at night I often wished I might 
never arise again; and in the morning the only in- 
centive to getting up was the distress my good wife 
would have been in if I had not done so. I per- 
formed all the duties of life though there was no 
more feeling about them than an automaton would 
have felt. I often saw my wife look at me anxious- 
ly and would try to show an interest in what was 
interesting her ; for she was always full of affection- 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 57 



ate interest in every human being that came under 
her notice. 

"I tried to attain such an interest as she had in 
others, but something was wrong with me, for I 
could not meet my fellow creatures in the human 
sympathetic way which she had with everyone; as 
though her heart was so overflowing with good will 
that it went out in effulgent rays towards everyone 
she met. As this is common among good women, 
more so than among men, I concluded that the pur- 
suit of money dried up the springs of good-will in 
some of us — though not in all — and we are changed 
into such an unnatural state, because our ways and 
thoughts are not in harmony with God's plans for 
us. My good wife naturally wished me to make a 
profession of the faith — for I believed in Christian- 
ity, though I shied at the iron-bound creed of my 
parents — and finally I became a member of her 
chosen church. But this act did not bring relief; 
my soul was as sick as before. 

"I found that it did not suffice to give out money 
to relieve the unfortunate. That was not true giv- 
ing. I must go personally to those whose hearts 
were sore and disheartened and give sympathy and 
friendship. In the doing of this, I lost some of my 
own soul's agony, and the content that came every- 
time I exercised this privilege, convinced me that 
I had found the right path. 

"I began the study of industrial affairs several 
years before the war; for I could see no hope for 
permanent good to be done without radical change. 
Since the cessation of actual warfare, I can see a 
greater need than ever, for there is no peace on 
earth and never can be under the competitive sys- 



58 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



tern. Not the workers alone need a system based 
on the law of heaven. We all need it to bring peace 
to our souls; in our homes, in our schools, in our 
churches, in all the departments of life. This po- 
litical activity necessary under our present state 
is the very essence of discord. If it was introduced 
into heaven it would make discord there. 

"I understand now that the mind of man needs 
a conscious, vital correspondence with God that 
the truth or divine intelligence must flow from 
spirit continuously, must be lived in actual human 
experience and will then lead us into activities 
pleasing to God. A so-called spiritual experience 
that does not change our attitude of mind radically 
is, I believe, spurious. Christianity received by the 
intellect will in time make our interest in humanity 
lively and affectionate and we learn joyfully that 
we are indeed our brother's keeper. 

"I recognize as truth all that our brother Judge 
Goodwin has said, and one reason I know it to be 
truth is the satisfaction — I might honestly say joy- 
ousness — it has been to my mind. I was scarcely 
able to sit still to the end of his talk, and the reason 
I permitted you others to express your thoughts be- 
fore me was that I had so much to say. Now that 
our minds are united on the need of a new system, 
and our hearts energized by the love that flows 
from divine mind, let us make an actual beginning 
toward establishing a settlement or colony. My 
sons have long understood that I would give them 
each the same capital I started with and a home. 
All the rest I control, except a provision for Mrs. 
Somers, I will devote to a work based upon the law 
we have heard discussed tonight. 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



5!) 



* ' Judge Goodwin your are the one to prepare the 
constitution for this colony. I propose another 
meeting one week from tonight, and that each man 
bring his wife. This is a work that will delight 
their kind hearts." 

"I want to announce right here that the title of 
Judge is to be dropped forever. I will never again 
sit in judgment in my fellows. I, from now on 
consecrate all my energies to the building up of a 
system, which will automatically insure justice to 
all. After this if you must use a title call me plain 
Mr. Goodwin." Ralph patted his father on the 
shoulder saying, "Good for you father, we will 
work together." 

The meeting now became informal and I present- 
ly was talking with Mr. Somers. I would like to 
be associated with all of you in this work, I said, 
but I have none of this world's goods to help in 
the founding of such a society. "You have youth 
and health, a well trained and a well-poised mind. 
There will be work for you among the young. 
Money to carry the work forward will be easier 
to secure than young people of ability and char- 
acter," said Mr. Somers kindly. 

"Such an organization as we contemplate," re- 
sumed Mr. Goodwin, "is not a charitable institu- 
tion. We are not in the same spiritual condition 
as the early church and we ask no man to sell all 
he has and give to the poor for we are not ready 
to do that ourselves. We are going to act up to 
the measure of the knowledge and faith we have 
and will get more. We will proceed along safe 
business lines. The soil is the basis of all wealth, 
food is the first necessity of man. Labor joined 



60 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



to the soil is the foundation of all a nation's great- 
ness ; but the time has come when individual owner- 
ship of land and isolated production of foodstuffs 
cannot have much attraction for the bulk of those 
who labor. 

"Did you ever consider what wonderful qualities 
a real farmer must have. He lives remote from 
other families. He labors part of the year sixteen 
or seventeen hours a day. All the members of his 
family work long weary hours in broiling heat. 
They have few recreations, no vacations, except as 
work ceases on account of cold in the winter. In 
the majority of farm homes the mother is cook, 
nurse, wash-woman, seamstress, dairy-maid, house- 
keeper and sometimes errand-boy; besides perform- 
ing the functions of motherhood. Now we don*t 
wish such a state of things to continue; so we will 
set up eo-operative farming to which must be added 
manufacturing as fast as it is practical. Each so- 
ciety should contain about five thousand citizens 
so they may carry on sufficient activities. They 
should be housed in one vast building containing 
all modern appliances to lessen labor. They must 
have schools of all grades; hospitals, library, music 
halls, and lecture rooms, apartments for each house- 
hold, though all the work done for community must 
be done cooperatively in public rooms. 

"That great body of business men who like my- 
self have only their salaries and their savings will 
see in this movement an asylum for old age, and a 
sure inheritance for their children, even though they 
may remain at their present occupation as long as 
possible. Having a membership in such a society 
will take the place of taking out a life insurance, 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



61 



and will be of so much more value that there can 
be no comparison." 

Will all men be required to plow and hoe asked 
one thoughtful brother. "Men play golf to get 
exercise to keep their muscles elastic, and farming 
with modern machinery is not slavish labor. Run- 
ning a tractor, for instance, looks like quite genteel, 
and easy work. Even slight women have done that 
since the war began. Remember that the object of 
all men who join this organization will be to make 
the conditions of labor more and more tolerable, for 
no man knows but what his discendants of the second 
generation may be common laborers. Refinement 
of mind and refined homes are found everywhere 
among all classes of people; and the refining in- 
fluences of such surroundings as we propose to 
establish will have its effect." 

"It's getting late, Goodwin," said Mr. Somers, 
rising at this point; "and I promised to be home 
«arly. If you will draw up your working plan I 
will join you in practical action at any time. Where 
in your opinion should the first colony be located!" 
Mr. Goodwin mentioned a location and Mr. Somers 
asked while he stood with hat in hand; "Would it 
not be well for us here now, as we are all of one 
mind, put our names to a document signifying our 
intentions to form a partnership for this purpose!" 
"I have such a pledge prepared," returned Mr. 
Goodwin, and taking up a sheet of paper he read: 
"We the undersigned, deploring the moral and in- 
dustrial disorders of society, and believing that the 
Kingdom of heaven must be established in righteous 
conditions of labor so that each human being may 
attain to an equal inheritance in God's world, do 



62 HIGHWAY OF LIFE 

hereby pledge ourselves to use our energies, and our 
fortunes to further this work." 

After they had all signed this, Mr. Somers said 
in his business like way: "Whom shall we appoint 
for a committee to look over the land and make a 
report to this society?" "You would be a whole 
committee yourself," suggested Dr. Aiken, and Mr. 
Goodwin seconded that as a motion. So he was 
promptly charged with that work and appointed 
a meeting for the next week in the same room. 
"You certainly did not forget anything. You have 
thought of just about everything necessary to ac- 
tion. Go ahead formulating plans, Goodwin. We 
will make you our official planner," he called back 
over his shoulders as he hurried out. 

A week from that first evening we were once 
more convened in Mr. Goodwin's library, and as 
Mrs. Goodwin and I felt we could not miss any- 
thing, we were in the room before any of the gentle- 
men arrived. Mr. Somers came in last, smiling, al- 
most happy looking, and made his report in an in- 
formal way; adding as he closed, "I considered it 
a great bargain, so I closed the deal in the name 
of the society." A smile went around the room, 
and Mr. Goodwin said, "We will make you business 
manager for the organization at nothing a year." 
"I shall be glad to serve," returned Mr. Somers; 
"and I will suggest that we make this a part of our 
regulation that the working members of our colony 
have the management of the farming as soon as 
they are organized and show aptness for the work. 
But I suppose we will need to play the part of big 
brother in an unobtrusive way. 

"The first necessity will be a proper building to 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 63 



house all this great family, and the builders must 
be the future residents, with proper overseers to 
manage the work; with tents for the families, and 
means for conserving food for next winter. Then 
we should buy out a cement plant, for the stones 
on the land, added to cement and sand, will be our 
building material. 

"Now I propose that as each workingman will 
be a prospective member, that they be selected with 
care, and that each one shall pay for his member- 
ship by his labor, and shall be given enough to 
sustain him until the colony can sustain itself. 
When it becomes a manufacturing community, and 
has a reserve fund, the initial cost can be paid back 
and form the basis for another colony. Each mem- 
ber, however, must subscribe to the constitution ; 
and that constitution shall require such member to 
give a certain portion of his income each year to 
the building up of other colonies, so that their child- 
ren shall be provided for; they must never return 
to competition. I would provide for a governing 
board of business men interested in this work, for 
the real laborer is not a business man. When the 
work is fully organized, so it can run itself, each 
community can govern itself. We will need teach- 
ers of all kinds, until colonies are fully established 
when we hope their own people will be able to 
fill those positions. Many educated and cultured 
families will, in time, join them, and we must be 
careful that at the beginning none are received 
who are not intelligent enough to understand and 
be in accord with this institution; for it is really a 
church we are founding, the Church of the Highway 
and we must exercise our right to refuse admission 



€4 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



to the discordant and violent. Now I know that 
many reformers claim that right conditions of labor 
will soon bring all men to a better moral state, and 
it will in time, no doubt; but we will choose the 
most desirable ones first and after they have become 
thoroughly imbued with the principle on which this 
society is founded, all members will be better quali- 
fied to lead others in the way." 

1 ' Is it not the intention that the founders them- 
selves become resident members?" asked Mr. Jones 
a very diffident, silent man who had very little to 
say on any occasion. "As fast as they wish to do 
so certainly," returned Mr. Goodwin, "I trust I shall 
be among the first." "And I also," said Mr. Somers. 
"I think I shall go fishing the first Saturday after- 
noon. " " I'll be there, ' ' avowed the silent Mr. Jones. 
There was a general smile and exclamations of "me 
too," from several including Mr. Aiken. "Now," 
continued Mr. Goodwin cheerfully, "when this mild 
hilarity came to an end; we must remember that 
other children of God besides ourselves are anxious 
to help their fellowmen in a practical way. We 
twelve men could not do much but if our number 
were increased by thousands we could set things in 
motion rapidly. It would be well to issue a pam- 
phlet, giving the reasons for our organization, and 
stating what Mr. Somers has already done. "Have 
we your permission to use your name in this pamph- 
let?" he asked turning to that gentleman. 

"Certainly, and I would suggest that you print 
the talk just as it was delivered to us. I have the 
thoughts all jotted down for that purpose, and would 
suggest that they be distributed in such a way as to 
reach the attention of Christian business men, for 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 65 

if any class responds it will be Christian men who 
really love humanity; and where circumstances 
makes it possible will help the work. After we 
have made it known to enough people, and know 
we have aroused sufficient interest, we can call a 
convention in some large city and so secure the 
help of a large number of our brethren.' ' 

There was more talk of a purely business nature. 
Each member gave a check for his share of the cost 
of printing to be done, and Mr. Goodwin was 
authorized to attend to that part of the work. Mr. 
Somers then turned towards me and said, "we will 
need a secretary to see to the sending out of this 
literature. Can you not attend to that for us?" 
"She can indeed," responded Mrs. Goodwin, as I 
hesitated, not knowing what to say; "She will con- 
tinue to make her home with us I trust, but I know 
she has longed for different work." I gave her a 
grateful look and told Mr. Somers I would gladly 
serve to the best of my ability. "That matter is 
settled then. Next, what provision shall we make 
about getting enough desirable people on the grounds 
to begin preparing for the city we must build?" 
* ' Wait a moment, Mr. Somers, you are going at such 
a rapid pace I can't keep up," exclaimed Mr. Good- 
win. "We havn't the funds yet to begin work on 
such a large scale." 

"Gentlemen," said Mr. Somers, rising to his feet; 
"I have often wondered why the Lord gave me suc- 
cess in everything I undertook. I know now, and I 
am going to return him his own. My wife is in 
unison with me in this matter, and we have decided 
to see this work started. We will give our time to 
it, and I for my part feel amply repaid for what I 



66 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



have done, in a sudden return to a normal state of 
mind. I believe it must be a law that if we are in- 
different to the burdens and trials of our fellows 
after we have reached a certain stage of spiritual 
development, we will have the burdens of those, who 
are so harassed, put upon us; and wtihout any 
trouble of our own, we will be so troubled we can 
scarcely endure life until we voluntarily become 
burden bearers for others. 

"I have here he continued," after a moments hesi- 
tation, "a rough plan for a building enclosing and 
covering a surface of forty acres. My idea is that 
we can build one story at a time, as our member- 
ship increases. When we have a complete member- 
ship the ground floor will be our storerooms and 
workshops. I wish you all to look this plan over, 
and if you can approve I will set the forces in 
motion." "I was very hopeful before," said Mr. 
Goodwin in a low tone, but this response exceeds 
anything I ever hoped for. Surely God is in this 
work, even as I thought from the beginning of my 
study and hope." 

There was some examination of the plan, which 
it seemed provided with everything needed in a mod- 
ern building, after which Mr. Somers said: "How 
shall I proceed about securing workers? A great 
number of unskilled workers will be needed in the 
construction of the building, and I can secure some, 
but as we wish to choose them carefully I don't 
know just how to proceed." "It would be well to 
go among them in their meetings, would it not, and 
so get acquainted with a larger number? I have al- 
ready done so," said Mr. Goodwin. "I think I can 
interest quite a number." 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



67 



"I have done the same in several large cities,' ' 
confessed Mr. Somers, since I have begun to learfi 
that 'no man liveth to himself.' I know a number 
of good men and true that will now be free to take 
up this work for the industries are beginning to 
slacken up. They will take to this work eagerly. 
Let each member then make the work known to as 
many real workers as he may be able to find, and 
choose to the best of his ability. We will make few 
mistakes. It will hardly be necessary for us to meet 
before the second week," said Mr. Somers rising 
— hat in hand — as there will be nothing to report 
for that length of time; and by that time our secre- 
tary should begin receiving requests for inform- 
ation." 

After they were all gone Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin 
expressed their satisfaction with my being the sec- 
retary of the organization; and as he sat down at 
his desk Mr. Goodwin remarked with a look of com- 
plete satisfaction on his face: "Mr. Somers is cer- 
tainly a man of decision. He is equal to a regiment 
himself. I will bless the Lord while I have being 
for being permitted to take part in this work." 

I took up the new work with pleasure, though I 
had not been weary of my employment as assistant 
to Mrs. Goodwin. Everything went forward har- 
moniously, and within a few weeks I was busy 
answering requests for information, by sending out 
literature. So many in our own town had applied 
for membership in the society, that before the next 
meeting for business it was decided to hold it in 
one of the social rooms of the church. I was asked 
to attend to report, and so went with Mr. and Mrs. 
Goodwin, the latter have trusted her younger 



68 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



. children to the care of a maid. There were about 
fifty present. Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Somers ad- 
dressed them, the latter telling what progress had 
been made in preparations for the building. It was 
all very encouraging, and it was decided that a 
paper should be edited to make the movement more 
widely known. I was to visit the rising colony and 
report its weekly progress for this paper. 

Now the work was really started, and I gloried 
in my new activities. I was really doing something 
that seemed like life. I had never inquired what 
my wages would be, indeed, I did not care, for I 
had all I needed and was among friends, for this 
was the spirit of all. I went the following week to 
visit the colony and saw the foundation being laid. 
One thousand workmen with their families were al- 
ready there living in tents. Already a cannery had 
been opened and the women and children, includ- 
ing boys under eighteen years of age, were taking 
care of all the fruit and vegetables they could pur- 
chase. The boys past eighteen, and all the men not 
strong enough for the building work, were getting 
the land that was too rough for other purposes ready 
for the planting of orchard trees. A large number 
of small and rocky farms had been bought after 
the purchase of the larger tract of fertile land ; and 
the building was on the highest spot possible. The 
fences were being cleared away, the rocks collected 
by machinery for the concrete work, and a busier 
and more hopeful set of people would be hard to 
find anywhere. 

I was entertained while there, by Mr. James 
Craig and family. I had been in workingmen's 
homes, of course before, many of them beautiful as 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



61> 



anyone could desire a home to be, though they 
were comparatively small; but I had never lived 
among them before, nor in a tent. It was a revela- 
tion to me that those who labored hard could have 
the culture of more favored people. When I learned 
as I did in time, that many working people have 
had an ancestry in their generations that attained 
to some wealth, and cultivated their minds I began 
to understand. They had the best of all culture, 
Christian teaching and the character built upon it. 
When I learned later that the families of those 
who were of importance in a worldly sense several 
generations ago are now to be found among the 
workers of the world, I began to understand how 
the race is constantly being prepared for better 
things. 

The world has always wondered about Abraham 
Lincoln, who emerged from a log house to guide 
the destinies of a nation, but there is nothing mys- 
terious about it. Somewhere in the remote past 
his ancestors chose righteousness, and loved knowl- 
edge. These are the only forces in the universe to 
elevate character and refine mind, and as the Spirit 
of God is always and everywhere present to do this 
work how can we be surprised to see a beautiful 
character in the commonest environments. The 
wonder is that there are not more manifestations, 
but let us be patient. When we consider the real 
goodness and kindness found in so many where we 
least expect it ; and recall the words of Christ about 
the cares of this life choking the seed of his king- 
dom, we can see why there are not more noble 
characters in the world. We are told to love all 
our fellowmen, and find it uphill work because 



70 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



they are not lovable; but the knowledge that all 
souls have the same faculties that God has, and are 
destined to grow into the divine character enables 
us to obey intelligently. The consciousness formed 
by the world thought covers humanity like a gar- 
ment. As that thought is selfish they must appear 
unlovely, but once in awhile we get an insight into 
the soul, and glimpse the God-likeness. The Spirit, 
through the thought and unselfish activities of 
the coming industrial institutions will set the race 
free from its insane selfishness — for selfishness is 
always insane — and reveal all souls in their true 
character, the children of the living God. Before 
we had time to be impatient, the community home 
was ready for occupation, and a glad day it was 
when the workers moved in. 

According to our constitution all labor was to be 
done co-operatively. Classes were to be formed 
among the women, but one class worked just one 
week at one occupation. Monotony is the great bug- 
bear in domestic labor. Monotony is what turns 
labor into drudgery, so we planned to avoid it. 
Monotony causeth despair, but variety tendeth to 
increase of interest and energy ; is the way one good 
mother in Israel expressed her views to me. By 
this arrangement no one class of women would do 
any one kind of domestic labor more than three 
or four weeks in the year; and the weeks would 
not be close together, so no one would begin to 
weary of any task before the week was out, for 
when we work in pleasant company the time passes 
very quickly. Although I made some mistakes there 
was no friction for everyone was so amiable, and 
it was not long before the domestic classes were 



POUNDING THE HIGHWAY 



71 



working together as harmoniously as the wheels 
of a clock. 

Besides organizing these classes, I was preparing 
a class of young women as organizers for, already, 
the work had gathered a momentum which showed 
it would develop into a torrent; and each one of 
us understood that we would soon need a vast num- 
ber of helpers, for applications for membership were 
coming in by the thousands. 

Mr. Aiken had resigned from the pastorate of 
the church he had served; dropped the Rev. from 
before his name, and been appointed to organize 
the educational part of our activities. 

Mr. Elwin was already a helper, for he sought 
out families of worthy poor, and helped them into 
the Highway, for he was a real reformer and used 
his means freely in this grand work. 

By the time I had finished with my classes in 
the first community home, which was before Christ- 
mas, another was ready for occupancy in California, 
and as Mr. Aiken had finished his task, he was sent 
there and I accompanied his family to our new 
home. It was Spring by the time my work was 
finished on the Coast, and by that time we had 
organized five societies, for in that mild climate 
the building could be carried forward as well in 
Winter as any other season. 

As soon as the season was suitable for building 
another was planned for the Southwest, and thither 
I repaired before the building commenced to pre- 
pare our prospective citizens for life in the "High- 
way." Here I found the governing board dwelling 
in a large hotel in a nearby town, and took up my 
residence again under the same roof with the dear 



72 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



family whose home had been mine so many years. 
It was decided by the managing board that in this 
Central position they wonld build a great Univer- 
sity, and the foundation was already being pre- 
pared when I reached there. 

It would be impossible for any pen to describe 
the activities of establishing the Highway. We 
seemed constantly in a crowd of people who wanted 
to be set to work immediately, for we were con- 
stantly traveling from place to place, and tarried 
not more than two weeks at any one place through- 
out the Summer. For the panic had begun in 
earnest, and men were thrown out of employment 
in numbers that were appalling. Many of these of 
course had some savings from their 7/ears of labor 
in cities, and hundreds would band together, and 
send a delegation to the governing board of the 
Highway asking to be placed on land, and stating 
the amount of capital they could provide. 

It seemed as though Babylon was casting out her 
inhabitants, and causing reform almost against the 
wishes of those who had been citizens in the city 
of confusion. I never inquired how the board se- 
cured the money to buy land for each new colony. 
I was sure they received it in the right way, and 
the work was so harmonious and interesting that 
our energies never flagged. 

Mr. Craig who I learned had been receiving an 
immense salary from the captain of industry gave 
it up to take part in our work ; and I was glad to 
be counted a friend by his kind wife, and three 
lovely daughters, who are all acceptable organizers 
in the work. Mr. Craig has such an ability in 
organizing the mob of men, gathered from every 



FOUNDING THE HIGHWAY 73 



industry under the sun, and setting them to work 
on the buildings and at farming that he could not 
be spared. 

Mr. Somers has by common consent charge of all 
the monetary affairs, while Mr. Goodwin is a master 
hand at scattering harmony around him and is an 
instructive speaker. If any friction arises he is 
the one sent, and it disappears so quickly that it 
seems never to have existed. 

All the women of the board, being mothers of 
families mostly grown up, can give their time to 
public work. They are usually on the reception com- 
mittees, wherever they happen to be, and no timid 
soul ever fails to feel at home in their presence, 
for in their hearts is the law of kindness. 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY 
HOME 



S I came up the wide stairway, leading to the 



XJl reception room of the Home which has ever 
since been to me a city of refuge, I was utterly 
weary in body and soul. I had been doing office 
work in one of our large cities, and it was, as all 
know, very confining ; and added to this I had many 
domestic perplexities and responsibilities. A frail 
mother who needed a change of climate: a brother 
who had recently been thrown out of employment, 
and could find no other: a young sister, getting 
ready to be a business woman like myself, but who 
rebelled vigorously at the prospect, were my loved 
though trying perplexities. 

Just the week before, I came home one evening 
to find our small world in an uproar. Brother 
George was pacing back and forth through our 
small apartment, like a caged animal. Lilly, my 
younger sister was weeping copiously in the little 
living room, and mother was putting a rather frugal 
supper on the table, but though she was quiet there 
were tears in her eyes. I kissed her on my way 
through the room, and having laid aside my wraps 
returned to Lilly. " Shame on you for making 
mother cry," I said, in an undertone. "You seem 
to think you are the only person on earth that has 
any trouble. Lave your eyes, and come out to 
supper, like a sensible girl;" I commanded in my 




LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 75 



superior elder sisterly way. " Don't you know 
mother must not be worried ? ' ' Lilly got up slowly, 
for she was really a good sensible child, and I 
passed out to the kitchen to help mother. George 
came in at that moment, and took his place at the 
table, but there was none of his resolute expression 
left. I looked at him with a sinking heart. I knew 
the cause. For six weeks he had been looking for 
work, any kind of work a strong man could do. 
It was only another day of failure. I tried to speak 
cheerfully, but could not frame the words; and we 
took our places at table with heavy hearts. I knew 
what George was suffering. His little surplus was 
almost gone. With the help of his earning we had 
lived quite comfortably, but Winter was near, and 
employment would be scarcer than ever. Never in all 
my life, had I felt such a burden of discouragement. 
I felt if this state of affairs continued long, I should 
go mad. We began our meal in abject silence. 
Lilly came in at last and as she went to her place, 
she kissed us all in turn. ' i What's the matter 
Sis?" trying to speak cheerfully. "I have de- 
termined to run away," declared Lilly quietly. "Do 
you remember Ellen Manners who used to come 
home with me? About three months ago they 
moved to a Colony Home, whatever that is, and 
today I got a letter from her inviting me to visit 
her. I was crying because I could not go for want 
of money, but I can walk there. It is only two 
hundred miles." She finished with determination. 
Before mother could utter a remonstrance, George 
said, "We might make the trip together Sis: I am 
through looking for work in this town; I think I 
shall become a tramp." "You can go to the Home 



76 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



with me," returned Lilly, beginning to smile, for 
she foresaw something suited to her tastes in such 
a journey. "I havn't been invited," returned 
George; "I might hang around though, and you 
could give me a handout." 

Lilly darted from the table, but returned in a 
moment, waving the letter triumphantly over our 
heads, exclaiming; "Just think, you are wanted 
there, right now," and she read: "It has been de- 
cided to give citizenship in the colony to as many 
desirable young men as there are families; for 
there happens to be a scarcity of young people here, 
just now, so many having married and gone to a 
new colony. I don't know just the conditions by 
which they are received but they are coming every 
day and seem to be delighted to get here. They 
also want a number of young ladies, and if any 
of those that come have any one dependent on 
them, of course they can all come. I want you to 
eome soon and pay me a long visit anyway." And 
you were crying like a baby with such a prospect 
ahead of you, I remarked in disgust, as I took the 
letter from my excited sister's hand, and after read- 
ing it, passed it to George. He read it, and passed 
it to mother. Mother put on her glasses and we 
sat in silence a few seconds. We were not smiling 
but the deep dejection passed from each face. There 
was a little rift in the black cloud that had hovered 
over us for weeks. Mother was the first to speak, 
and her voice had decision and hope in it. "Marian, 
you are the oldest, and most practical of my child- 
ren. You have plenty of time after supper to get 
the night train to Hopeville. George and Lilly can 
see you off ; and you can get back tomorrow night, 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 77 



in time to go to work Monday. Eat a good supper 
now, and thank God for this hope. I was ready 
to sink, but the Lord knew all the time what was 
going to happen. God bless the kindness of that 
young heart, that remembered us." George drew 
a long deep sigh, and began to eat his neglected 
supper. 1 ' I've heard of this work," he said as he 
ate, ' 'but supposed it cost a fortune to secure mem- 
bership. If I could have that snug little insurance 
all in a lump we would go in like conquerers. I 
had even begun to think that it would have been 
better, like Billy Brown, to be all battered up and 
have an income; than to come home with all my 
members intact, and no possible way to get a liveli- 
hood. I'm glad I'm all here, and since my exper- 
ience of the last few months, I am a reformer. The 
competitive system exists for the sole purpose of 
teaching chumps like myself, and a lot of others, 
to get busy, and knock the props from under it 
So it came about that on a Sunday morning in 
November of the year 19 — ? I entered the large 
reception hall of the dear community home that 
ha ever since been my home, and looked around a 
beautiful room, filled with beautiful human beings 
all in white. A smiling mother came to me with 
extended hand, and a look of kindness that made 
her face seem to me as the face of an angel. ' ' Wel- 
come, tired child," she said as she took my hand 
in a firm clasp. "Is this heaven?" I asked, smil- 
ing a little. I could not then understand why I 
should receive such kindness from a stranger. "We 
try to build on the Law of heaven," she replied; 
leading me while we talked across the hall. We 
trust it will really be the ante-room to heavenly 



78 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



peace in the life that now is and that which is to 
come. "This is my home for the present," usher- 
ing me into a beautiful apartment, "and you shall 
be my guest for the day. We are all greedy to 
entertain strangers. I am Mrs. Goodwin and you?" 
"My name is Marian Sharply," I replied, and by 
degrees I poured into the ears of this new found 
friend, the history I have already told the reader. 
"Is everyone received as I have been?" I asked. 
"Everyone," she replied, with happy unconcern. 
"We are always looking for the angel." I think 
I have come into an assembly of them," I replied, 
as I smiled in answer to her bright glance. "No," 
she answered more seriously, "you have simply 
found a company of men and women trying to 
apply Christ's law of love to everything we do. 
This is a much easier task than to apply it to our 
thoughts and words. Those who try to live the 
purely sane and scientific life required of a Christ- 
ian have a great life work before them, even under 
the best conditions. Such conditions as exist here 
make it easier to be outwardly peaceful and har- 
monious, and in this way, may minister to our 
spiritual growth. 

"As in the outside world we have here people in 
all degrees of spiritual growth, and those who seem- 
ingly have not yet begun to grow. This mode of 
life takes away incentive or rather temptation to 
crime — removes the stones of stumbling — makes 
straight paths for weak feet. For instance, jealo- 
sies and rivalries of all kinds are disappearing 
from among us; and when all human perversities 
are finally overcome, we have reason to believe that 
the Spirit of Truth will flow into all hearts, and 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 79 



begin the work of transforming all souls into the 
same character of Christ." At this moment a 
maiden of about seventeen years came into the room, 
and the mother introduced me to Ruth, her oldest 
daughter. ' ' Miss Sharply has just come," she said 
smiling upon the maiden. Ruth gave me her hand, 
with the same air of friendliness her mother had 
shown, and said, "you must never go away again 
Miss Sharply. "We are very happy here, and have 
such lovely times." "She must return to L to- 
night," said the mother, "but later will come back 
with her mother and a brother and sister." "Let 
me show you to my room, and you can wash the 
dust of your journey away, and rest awhile if you 
like till dinner." 

At dinner I met Mrs. Goodwin's family and her 
friend, Miss Browne, a young woman about my 
own age, in whom I was much interested. She 
greeted me with great kindness, and immediately 
asked if I were coming to live among them. "As 
soon as I can," I replied, "but I fear I must stay in 
the city a few weeks until my employer can fill my 
place. Mother will remain with me; but brother 
George and my sister will come right away, if I can 
make arrangements for them." "I will receive 
them into my household," returned Mrs. Goodwin 
kindly. "Mr. Goodwin is gone on business, but he 
will be satisfied with any arrangement I make. The 
young men, you know, have barracks to room in,- 
but are billited to table of those who are sponsors 
for them, and are always welcome in our homes. 
The young women, on the contrary, come right into 
the home to reside. "When your mother and you 
arrive, we will make her matron of the young ladies r 



so 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



dormitory. We have needed a mother in that de- 
partment a long time." When I went to the train 
Miss Browne, Ruth, and her little sister, Frances, 
went with me, and their friendliness made me loth 
to leave these new found friends. "Come back 
soon," Ruth called after me, and Frances waved 
as long as I could see her. 

Mother, George, and Lilly were all at the home 
station, when I got there, and I rushed to them and 
kissed them in turn. Such good blessed news, I 
told them as we started home. George and Lilly 
shall go tomorrow, and will be in the home of Mr. 
Goodwin. Mother and I will follow as soon as Mr. 
Barnes can get another stenographer. I explained, 
as we walked to the street car line that took us to 
our home. So the the next day, before I went to 
work, I saw George and Lilly start cheerfully on 
the road that leads to the City of Hope; and theu 
wended my way to Mr. Barnes' office. When he 
came in, sometime later, he looked preoccupied and 
discouraged; and I hesitated to notify him that I 
wished to terminate my term of service, until time 
to go out for lunch. When I did mention it to him, 
he gave a start and said, "Very well young lady, 
it will suit me exactly. A niece of mine needs the 
work, and I feel I ought to help her. So, as you 
are quitting of your own accord, no one has any- 
thing to complain of." He proceeded to write a 
check for the amount due me ; and when I received 
it I was glad to know that my career as a business 
woman was at an end; and I was free from the 
Barnes Coal Company's dismal office. I hurried 
home after I cashed my check, and announced to 
mother that we would go the next day; then began 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 81 



to prepare the furniture for shipping, for thought- 
ful Mrs. Goodwin had told me to bring everything 
I could, to make our apartments homelike. 

Thus it came that mother and I followed the other 
members of our family very closely, and before the 
next Sunday appeared, we were as much at home 
as though we had been there five years, instead of 
five days. We did not live in the girl's dormitory. 
Because there was a son in the household, mother 
was given apartments among the families. Mother 
spent her time among the girls, and became a real 
mother to those who had none. My second Sunday 
in the home was a very satisfactory day, indeed. 
Brother George, Lilly and myself were already in- 
stalled in the choir, and when we rose to sing I 
looked across the auditorium and saw mother smil- 
ing and happy sitting with Mrs. Goodwin. For my- 
self, when the voices of all those young people rose 
in a song of joyful praise to God, it seemed that 
my soul floated up with it to the very gates of 
heaven. For the first time in my life I was free 
from a burden — a frightful, unnatural burden that 
seemed to become animate and constantly repeated 
the distressing questions — How will you buy coal 
for next Winter? How can you buy shoes next 
month? If you don't get a raise in wages how can 
you keep a home ? and so on with constant repitition, 
I thanked God, as I sang for the lightness of heart 
I was beginning to feel, also, that my own immedi- 
ate family were forever set free from the terrors 
of poverty ; and with a grateful and receptive mind, 
prepared to listen to the speaker, who would be 
with us that one day. As I knew short hand, I was 



82 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



prepared to report what we heard so the best 
thoughts could be used in our class rooms. 

"The spiritual unseen universe existed before the 
visible," began the lecturer when he had been in- 
troduced, "and is as real and tangible as the world 
we see with, our eyes. It is probable, therefore, 
that when we have attained true spirituality, we 
may be able to see spiritual forces with the same 
organs that can now discern only what we term 
the visible and material. In nature we see the 
glories of the rainbow, and have long been told it 
is the result of white light being separated into its 
elements ; but now scientists are beginning to under- 
stand that those colors represent the different cre- 
ative forces in nature, made visible under certain 
conditions. John in Revelation saw seven lamps 
of fire burning before the throne and informs us 
they were the seven Spirits of God. Zechariah saw 
seven lamps and was informed by the angel that 
they were the eyes of the Lord, which run to and 
fro through the earth. May we not believe without 
irreverance that we see evidence of the seven crea- 
tive forces in the colors of the rainbow? "We know 
that each color has its own rate of vibration and 
some cannot discern all the seven hues, perhaps be- 
cause their eyes do not respond to that rate of 
vibration. There are we know thousands of hues 
in each of the colors and each of these hues cor- 
respond to the color produced by white heat of the 
elements. Thousands of these hues have been pro- 
duced by the incandescence of metals and the cor- 
responding one found in the rainbow. 

"Is it not reasonable to believe that these forces, 
made visible in the rainbow, are in constant activity 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 83 



producing each their proper element, and are spirit- 
ual? We are told that Elisha prayed to God that 
the young man, who waited upon him, might be 
encouraged by seeing the spiritual beings sent for 
their defense, when they were in peril from the 
Syrians This prayer was answered, and the young 
man saw those who came to defend them. Elisha 
had seen those forces before. The poise of his mind 
could not be disturbed by the hosts, who came to 
take h"m prisoner, for he had an understanding of 
the mind of God, and that he had control of all the 
forces on earth, and heaven Elisha knew also that 
there was no controversy between his soul and God, 
and that whatever he asked he would receive. So 
he could take any situation calmly. He had seen 
the forces of the spiritual world at work, and could 
not be moved by the childish erratic activities of 
the human race. It seems a grand and glorious 
possibility, the knowledge this promises humanity. 
Now, we know God's purpose to mankind by a 
study of the divine mind as unfolded in Scripture. 
It seems to us more desirable to see the actual 
spiritual forces at work for humanity than the 
condition we are in now, for we must walk by 
simply knowing what God wants us to do. How 
ever, we must not neglect any duty, vainly longing 
for any spirtual gifts, for our Master told us that 
to those who are obedient will be given greater 
work. If all you are able to do is to teach some 
small child, and start it aright in the path of life, 
you are doing as great a work as any can do. So 
while we can look forward to greater things we 
must not neglect the common duties by the faithful 
doing of which we will grow to still higher activi- 



84 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



ties, for our Master informs us there are degrees 
in attainments in the realm of spirit. 

"The spiritual world eixsted first, and was filled 
with beings having intelligence superior to the in- 
telligence of man, before our world was brought 
into existence. It could not have been brought into 
being without the co-operation of those spiritual 
beings, who working under the lav/ of divine mind, 
are helping in the upbuilding of the Christ character 
in men. That all spiritual beings are engaged in 
this work, and that it is their joy and delight to 
so work for man's creation, is shown by the mes- 
sage of that spiritual Prince who came to Daniel. 
He informed me and talked with me and said, 
"Fear not Daniel, thou art greatly beloved." He 
said also, that he stood to confirm, and strengthen 
Darius; and that Michael, the Prince of Israel, 
alone was assisting him in this work. Did not this 
imply, though it did not state implicitly, that other 
princes of the spiritual world were engaged in doing 
the same kind of work for other human beings? 
Does it not imply also that other nations and peo- 
ples have spiritual princes, who are interested in 
bringing them up to a higher plane? "We think 
that it does imply all this, and also, that without 
this work by unseen beings no progress in creation 
could be possible to man. Paul asks: "What hast 
thou — of mental endowments of character — that 
thou hast not received?" Thus, "We are God's 
workmanship, created in Christ — through the spirit- 
ual activities we have just described — unto good 
works: which God has before ordained that we 
should do. That is we were created for the express 
purpose of taking up and carrying on the same 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 



85 



work, which we have learned the spiritual princes 
are doing for mankind; so that God might be glori- 
fied by the extension of the reign of law; and more 
and more members of the human family be bene- 
fited by coming, voluntarily under the rule of the 
Spirit. 

Now, we have learned that God had created 
worlds before; and that he had the help of the 
Son's of God, the spiritual princes of the unseen 
universe, whose delight was to work for the sons 
of men. So the Lord God knew how to 
proceed to create a new world. He was Himself 
its law, its intelligence, and had within Himself 
the spiritual forces of which its should be formed. 
The Lord God knew also why he launched this new 
creation into being: knew before-hand every indi- 
vidual soul that would form a part of it: knew the 
kind of government to which this race of beings 
would attain, when they began to understand the 
character of God. Having this knowledge he could 
make no mistakes, and the revealings of his own 
existence, and his own character, were made in 
the right time. When the time was come for a fuller 
understanding of the divine character and purpose, 
Christ, who had attained to the same character as 
God, the Father, came to lead men to a higher plane 
of spiritual thought and consciousness ; and prepare 
them for the Kingdom, or Reign of Spirti, for which 
the earthly system, for which all visible worlds 
were created. So all men who had ears to hear 
the call were commanded to go forward, and the 
incentive held out to them was a kingdom of life: 
a spiritual plane of thought where physical death 
would be Overcome. The power by which they 



36 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



should overcome sin or transgression of the spiritual 
law of life, was the thought of God. They were to 
study the divine character, as made known by the 
revealing of God's mind in the Scripture, until 
the consciousness of the animal thought should be 
displaced by the consciousness evolved by the devine 
thought. When men thus loved Christ the Spirit 
would abide in them to that degree in which Christ 's 
words or thoughts abode in them and when this 
work is complete, 1 'They shall ask and receive." 
The centuries passed: the race struggled and suf- 
fered, but God was always in that struggling mass 
carrying on the work of creation; and we may be 
sure that the spiritual princes, whose delight was 
with the sons of men, were active agents in bring- 
ing up the race from the depths of animalism into 
the glorious intelligence, the high moral estate of 
the Sons of God. 

4 'This understanding of the work of spiritual 
princes for man's redemption from the animal plane 
of thought or intelligence, leads us to high grounds. 
We are beginning to see the land that was once far 
off, and to understand that we can attain to the 
character required for citizenship therein. But we 
want more light on spiritual law. How does God 
create the spirit of man within him? What emana- 
tions form the mind of Christ flowed out to heal 
and restore? We know it was the power of Spirit, 
but what medium is employed to conduct this 
power? For this and all knowledge of the mind 
and character of God we must consult the science 
of creation for this reveals the law by which Divine 
Mind does its work. 

"God is Spirit, God is Love, were two utterances 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 87 



of Christ. When he further told that the 'Spirit 
quickeneth,' and immediately added, 'The words 
I speak are spirit and life,' he introduced those who 
hear into the very mystery of God Thought pre- 
cedes the spoken word, and, therefore, the thought 
or intelligence of the Divine Mind is Life, because 
it is Spirit. It is the only power of the universe. 
4 1, the Lord fill heaven and earth ' How Lord? 
Certainly by mind alone. The Divine Intelligence 
is everywhere present. There is no spot where the 
mind that is God is not present with all His facul- 
ties alert. 

" Divine Mind fills all space and has all power over 
visible creation, for the Divine Mind created those 
visible things, and reserves the power to itself to 
reduce them again to thefc elemental forces. Is 
anything too hard for such a God? Our God can 
build up the spirit of man wi+lr'n him, by that law 
of Divine Mind by which He can induce his own 
thoughts, and therefore develop His own character, 
in the minds of His offspring Without this power 
there could be no creation for God is creating men 
not inanimate objects. God is Love, and Love is 
the beneficient action of Divine Mind. Being Love 
Ood must bring into being lovable creatures, that 
He may love them; and no intelligent creature can 
be lovable, unless he can attain the same character 
as God, his Creator. So we read that God created 
man with the same faculties that he himself pos- 
sessed, though yet in embryo, and then by this law 
of thought induction began to build up in him the 
same intelligence that resided in Divine Mind. 

"There is nothing unnatural in the thought that 
man can become God-like. He was brought into be- 



88 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



ing for that very purpose, and the powers to ac- 
complish this lies within himself. When he wills 
to do right, God the Spirit is always there to 
strengthen him in that decision. When he thinks 
a right thought, the Spirit uses that thought and 
builds it into character. When he resists evil, Spirit 
strengthens his intelligence. When he chooses good, 
Spirit increases his power to communicate good to 
others; and so the work of regeneration proceeds 
according to the Law of Divine Mind, until the work 
is complete and the man becomes a son of God, be- 
cause God is now in all his faculties.. It would be 
hard for us to believe that such a transformation 
could take place, for we have never seen the finished 
product, the full spiritual manhood. But our Master 
had attained to this high estate ; and he said it was 
possible to all who took him for their leader, and 
followed the path of obedience by which he had 
overcome the world thought. 

" Christ was the natural and logical product of 
this action of Divine Mind. He obeyed. He sub- 
mitted. 'Let not my will but the Law of Spirit be 
manifested in me,' was his constant desire; and 
there being no obstruction to the Spirit of Life, he 
became a perfect conductor through whom the Love 
of God could flow to sick, and disordered humanity. 
He attained this high spiritual state because he loved 
humanity, and the intelligence of love enabled him 
to set his face as a flint in the path he had chosen, 
and thus prepare to receive power to bring men to 
God. The last act of abnegation, that of laying 
down his life, only led to his taking it up again on 
a higher plane, where he could say; 'All power in 
heaven and on earth is given to me.' Having at- 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 89 



tained to one-ness with the Father, he had the 
spiritual riches and could bestow of his spirit on 
others. He could say 'Lo I send the promise of my 
Father; tarry ye until endured with power.' This 
power we know to be the Divine consciousness, the 
only power in the universe. After receiving this 
gift or faculty from the Divine Mind they could 
do the works of God. They had power over sin, 
sickness, and death, as Christ had. They went about 
doing the very works that Christ said were done by 
him because the Father, the Divine intelligence or 
character abode in him. 

" There was nothing unnatural or mystical about 
the character of Christ. If after he had given up 
his own will and submitted to the will of the 
Father, he had not received power there would 
have been mystery about such a result; but his 
power over the minds and bodies of men was nat- 
ural. He obtained it by following a well under- 
stood, well denned law of mind and when he healed 
disease he did it by communicating some of his own 
spiritual consciousness to the sick, or disordered 
mind. The cause of all sickness and death, is dis- 
order, or deadness in the faculties. Christ could 
set those faculties right, by inducing part of his 
own life-giving consciousness in them. When the 
mind was set right the body immediately responded, 
for, 'It is the Spirit — the Divine consciousness that 
quickens.' It has all power in heaven and on earth. 
Throughout all the history of God's dealing with 
men there were instances of men attaining this 
power in a small measure. 

"Moses was told to select seventy of the leading 
men in Israel for helpers. I said, Jehovah will come 



90 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



down and take the Spirit that is upon thee and put 
it on them. Moses said later it was God's Spirit. 
So we are led to believe that God needs a human 
agent, specially prepared, through whom to reach 
the multitudes . Elijah and Elisha had some of the 
intelligence that love bestows, and each performed 
works by the same Spirit of power that was mani- 
fested in its fulness by our Master. We too can 
become workers together with God by bringing our 
every thought into the obedience that Christ ren- 
dered. Thought is the only power in the universe; 
and if we would have power to overcome evil, to 
help ourselves and others out of the wilderness into 
the promised land, we must develope within our- 
selves the right thinking of God. We must bring 
forth fruit with patience ; and not expect to do great 
works for others when we have not subdued self. 
For the animal self thought must be overcome by 
constant effort until the Christ mind is formed in 
us. But this work requires time; and the Divine 
mind, who knows our limitations, gives us many 
things to help us through our time of discipline. 

' ' This power of building up character in the minds 
of others by inducing the right thought in that mind 
is an attribute of Divine Mind ; and is seemingly the 
greatest attribute for the creation of mind could 
not go forward without it, and that is the only 
creation our God is engaged in. And the fact that 
the created mind can be brought forward in char- 
acter by receiving thought impressions from the 
Divine Mind proves that he has the same faculties 
as God; for we could not believe that God would 
attempt to convey his higher thought to a fish, or 
an animal. So man can also receive power to induce 



lifj: of the community home 



91 



his thought in other minds, and build them up in 
intelligence, in patience, in firmness, in generous 
thought, in peace, even in love — the highest attri- 
bute of mind. He can also restrain evil in the world 
around because of this power and hold it in abay- 
ance until good is built up in its place. For the 
overcoming of death is a personal responsibility, 
and each one of us must reform our own minds, by 
the process described; and even before our own 
vineyard is perfect our thoughts must flow out to 
assist others, for are we not commanded to pray 
for all men, and what is prayer but a desire that 
the Divine Spirit should rule all souls. When we 
think thoughts of peace and good-will we pray and 
if we think the thoughts of good continuously, if 
we abide in those thoughts we will come at last into 
our rightful inheritance. We will receive power to 
communicate the good we receive to other minds, 
and thus become princes, having power with God 
and men. 

"Now this, remember, is an attribute of Divine 
Mind, and God can no more refrain from sending 
out His word to bless and heal than the sun can 
refrain from shining; but as the mists and vapors 
of earth can intervene and hinder the sun from 
warming the earth with his rays, so the miasmic 
vapors of the world thought intervenes between God 
and our souls ; and the Word cannot do its beneficent 
work in healing human minds of the accumulated 
disorders, which are the result of centuries of wrong 
thinking. So the work of overcoming evil will be 
slow. Death is still in the world and will remain 
until every thought of every soul shall be in per- 
fect harmony with the law of heaven, when God 



92 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



will in reality come and dwell with men ; and death 
shall be vanquished from the realm of mind. 

"It behooves us therefore to make as careful 
mental preparation to work in God's vineyard, as 
the teacher is expected to make who instructs the 
young. If we have the love in our hearts that makes 
us willing to suffer, and to labor without hope of 
reward to bring other souls into the ralm of Spirit, 
we know that God dwelleth in us; and there can 
be no uncertainty about the results. All of God's 
children are called to this warfare, and failure is 
impossible when God commands, for, unlike the 
commands of men, the Divine always carries with 
it the power to do. The truth that men were cre- 
ated to do this work, cast out evil, and heal the 
sick, was shown when Christ reproved His disciples 
for failure in one case by expressing displeasure 
with them and calling them faithless. The cause of 
their failure was within themselves. Some moral, 
or rather spiritual self deceit that had not been 
healed in themselves. When they later asked why 
they had failed, Christ pointed out that they were 
not enough in earnest ; for earnestness would have 
led to serious preparation of soul — even to prayer 
and fasting. They had not enough love in their 
hearts. 

"There is one class, and a very important one, 
in human society, that through the whole history of 
the race has obeyed this law of mind, though they 
did it unconsciously; and that class has had more 
to do with spiritual progress of mankind than any 
other. Some one has erroniously said that God 
could not be everywhere so he made good mothers. 
The fact that most of mothers, even in the primi- 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 93 



tive races are good mothers, prove that God is 
everywhere ; and the reason the mothers of the 
race have had the greater influence is, that they 
have the greater love. A really good and intelli- 
gent father loves his children, but men must be 
both good, and intelligent, before their love equals 
that of an ordinary mother. When the mothers 
of the race are fully equipped to wage this war- 
fare scientifically, they will constitute an irresisti- 
ble power to carry the race toward the spiritual 
and perfect state, which when attained will admit 
no retrograde action; for the world-consciousness 
will have given place to the Divine consciousness, 
and all the children of men shall be taught of God. 

"Does all this sound very serious to you younger 
people; and do you think you would put off a study 
of the law of mind and delay obedience to it until 
you have enjoyed youth awhile? Remember you 
were created with faculties that make it possible 
for each and every soul to grow into the fulness 
of the Divine character and that only continuous 
growth brings happiness. What is known to scien- 
tists as 'arrested development results in deformity 
of the organism. ' Surely arrested spiritual develop- 
ment as akin to suicide, for if we refuse to our soul 
its right to continuous progress decay of our facul- 
ties begins at once. There is no place to stand 
still in the path of life. We must make continued 
progress or suffer with resulting paralysis of soul. 
But why expect anything but increasing satisfaction 
and happiness in beginning and pursuing this work? 
It is done in the secrecy and silence of your own 
soul sanctuary, and a stranger meddleth not there- 
with. You were created for just this work, and 



94 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



the resulting growth of your own soul, and, so it 
must be natural to you and therefore satisfactory. 

"In Prophecy we are told that Christ was an- 
ointed with the oil of joy, above all other spiritual 
princes, and He was the Master workman. It is 
true that while on earth He suffered, and His teach- 
ing was rejected by His own people , but Christ had 
a special burden to bear for mankind. You may, 
and probably will have trials through life, for death 
is still in the world, but whatever your trials they 
will be easier to bear if you have been faithful to 
the law of Spirit. Such faithfulness will not hinder 
you from leading an active, healthy, human life. It 
will not lessen the love of family and friends, nor 
hinder the enjoyment of the pleasant companion- 
ships and activities of your daily existence. And 
there are various other reasons why each and every 
one of us should follow the path of the scientific 
use of his thought-force with zeal and energy: but 
the principal one is that the world is not yet brought 
into the Highway in which we find so much free- 
dom and happiness; and if we should slacken up 
our activities to bring others into the spiritual free- 
dom which belong to God's children our institu- 
tions might yet be overthrown There is yet some 
opposition even in our own nation to the industrial 
system which when fully established will make it 
possible for God's will to be done in all the earth. 
Other nations as you know are not so blessed as 
ours, and we owe it to them to use our mental 
energy to overcome the world-thought under which 
they are yet in bondage, so they may also come in- 
to the light and liberty of the children of God. 

"There is no doubt that what we now enjoy, was 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 95 



made possible by the striving after good — by the 
self-denial by the struggle toward spiritual thought 
of God's children throughout all time, since Christ 
was on earth; and thus we are heirs to all the ages 
of effort to realize the entrance of the soul into 
the spiritual kingdom. For every time any soul 
prayed that the spiritual law should rule the earth 
so that God's will might be done, it brought so much 
nearer, the fulfilment of their prayers ; and because 
they sought earnestly to have God's law established 
in their own hearts, it is possible for us in this 
age not only to understand the meaning of that 
kingdom more clearly, but to regulate all our 
worldly affairs by its law, so that our industrial 
activities do not hinder our moral advancement. 1 ' 

Much more the lecturer told us, and it was all 
new to me, but the latter part of his talk did not 
deal so much with our duties. I recorded it all and 
the real essence is in our textbooks. 

As Miss Browne and I walked out of the audi- 
torium, side by side, she took my free hand and 
said; "Would it not be fine to live up to all we 
have just heard?" "I am going to make a strong 
effort to do it," I returned, for I feel the incentive 
strong within me. When I consider what I have 
escaped, I would be a moral ingrate did I forget 
for one moment the millions all over the earth, not 
only under the bondage of pagan industrial insti- 
tutions; but still in darkness about the true mean- 
ings of God's Kingdom, and the sane and satis- 
factory manner of setting it up. Miss Browne drew 
me along with her out through the reception hall,, 
and down the broad steps, and we soon found our- 
selves walking arm in arm on the grounds. "You 



96 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



are a rapid learner," she said as wp walked slowly 
along. "To what branch of our activities do you 
feel the most leaning?" "I am so delighted with 
my freedom from worry, and in seeing mother, and 
my brother, and sister happy also ; as well as being 
among so many good and unselfish people, that I 
can hardly tell. I am willing to do anything re- 
quired for the general good." That is the right 
attitude of mind, but the labor of carrying on our 
household work does not require any special pre- 
paration. After the classes are once organized and 
in operation our domestic labors "flow along like 
a song," but there are other activities that have to 
do with our progress and the necessary preparation 
can be made while doing your portion of the phy- 
sical labor. "I would like to be a kindergarten 
worker." I confessed. "All my life I have wanted 
to work for little children and I feel happier with 
them than anywhere else." "That ambition can 
easily be realized, and there is none greater than 
to lead children into the ways of scientific think- 
ing while their minds are plastic. I also love that 
work, but had only a limited field in Mrs. Goodwin's 
home before this work began. I must confess 
though, I had such good material to work with 
that I cannot say I was successful: for it seems the 
children of that household are well-nigh perfect 
anyway, because of such good parents." "They 
are a lovely family," I returned with emotion. 
"Just think, only last Sunday I came here a 
stranger, and today, I feel that this is my home 
and am as safe and contented as though you were all 
my brothers and sisters." "Well, why not?" re- 
turned Miss Browne "for after all, relationship is 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 



97 



spiritual. Did not our Master say that whoever 
did the Will of God was his brother, and sister and 
mother? There are many who join us," she re- 
sumed, "who do not comprehend the Spirit of our 
Highway. They are led into it as a good invest- 
ment, and its promise of a safe inheritance to their 
children. Some others come among us because they 
see an easy way to make a living, and the coming 
of such people, although we welcome them and hope 
great things for their children, can give no such 
pleasure, to those of us who understand, as does 
the coming of a family who have already the spirit- 
ual perceptions necessary to carry forward our 
work. These people are, as yet, somewhat in the 
majority; and though they are well ordered, and 
industrious, they could not carry forward such a 
work by themselves. Those children are however 
our hope; and it is to this work of leading these 
into a renewed and higher consciousness, that we 
must address ourselves. To stabilize our institu- 
tions we must bring the consciousness of our nation 
to a higher plane. In other words, if our right- 
thinking does not exceed the right-thinking of the 
race in the days of competitive industries, how 
shall we attain to that which will usher in the ab- 
solute and perfected rule of the heavens? For 'as 
man thinketh in his heart, so is he in character, ' 
and in the government he upholds. No man is 
really a reformer, then, unless he begins at home 
and reforms himself. And the only ones that de- 
serve the name, are those, who by study of the only 
book of real science extant — the revealed mind of 
God — have learned fully what God wants done on 
earth, the law by which it must be done; then go 



98 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



to work and do it. For this reason our Master when 
He came to lay the foundation for the Reign of 
the heavens on earth, called upon individuals to 
reform their minds upon the law of that kingdom 
he came to establish. For he knew the nature of 
the kingdom he came to build; and how, through 
intervening generations those obedient to his call 
would grow towards the Divine character; and at 
the same time prepare the way for the visible and 
actual Reign of the spiritual world on our earth. 

"Our new industrial condition is only love ap- 
plied to the affairs of mankind. The reason no 
man who is in ignorance of the Mind of God can- 
not be a reformer, is because he would be all at sea. 
Our Maker knew from the beginning just what kind 
of government would minister to man's complete 
and perfect spiritual growth. And he knew the 
law by which to bring it about, and did not delay 
his work a moment." We had turned our steps 
toward the entrance while we were talking, and 
Miss Browne said after a moment's pause, as we 
began to ascend the stairs, "Come with me to 
dinner." "Thank you," I answered simply. "I 
have so much to be thankful for, so much to talk 
over at home, and so many new thoughts to think 
over and arrange in my memory, I feel oppressed." 
"Excuse me, I might know you would rather be at 
home. We will have opportunity for further talk 
I know, so good-bye, till the next time." When 1 
arrived at our apartment, dinner was on the table 
and mother was in her place. After we were all 
seated, she rose and went around the table kissing 
each one as she passed, and again took her seat 
saying; "What shall we render unto the Lord for 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 99 



all His goodness?" "I will praise Him while I 
have being." "How did you like the lecture 
Marian?" asked Lilly, as we began our dinner. "I 
believe I never heard anything in my life that 
sounded so practical;" I returned. "I was en- 
couraged when he spoke of the work of mothers 
in the world," said our mother looking at us with 
affection in her glance. "It was a great talk, sure 
enough," said George. "I saw you taking notes, 
Marian, can I refresh my memory by their help?" 
"You may," I replied, and I am informed that this 
lecture will be printed at this colony for school 
room work. It is a master effort. "Suits me all 
right," returned George. "Appeals to a man's 
reason; and not to his emotions, like the old style 
of preaching. Points out a practical way to make 
the earth a safer and better place for humanity. 
I think I shall enjoy the church of the Highway 
in all its activities. You did a good deed, little 
sister, when you corresponded with that little Miss ; 
for a most miserable family has been transformed 
in one short week, into a very happy and contented 
one." This was quite a long speech for George, and 
we all smiled our approval. "I'm going out with 
some young fellows to a town twenty miles away 
to do some propaganda work. They distribute 
literature and hold meetings to make this work 
known." "I am very glad," returned mother, "to 
see you become interested so soon. You are my 
good boy." He went away, and Lilly, after clear- 
ing the table flitted away to walk with Ellen on 
the grounds. Mother betook herself to her room 
for her Sunday sleep, and I was left to an after- 
noon of thought and study. 



100 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Later Mrs. Goodwin called to take mother to see 
the conservatory, and I was left in undisturbed 
peace until supper time ; which brought mother and 
Lilly in again, and we lunched together ; and talked 
over what we had seen in the past week that was 
new to us. There was music in the auditorium in 
the evening. We all went and listened with sur- 
prise for we did not know that such attention had 
been paid to the musical education of the residents 
of the Highway. 

When we met in our little parlor the next morn- 
ing, mother asked George how he had enjoyed his 
trip the day before. " Never enjoyed myself so 
well in my life," he returned with vim. ' 'These 
fellows here, are the finest I ever met. Full of 
energy and life, yet you never hear an oath, or a 
word but what is clean and manly." * 1 What do 
they talk about?" asked Lilly. "Well the most of 
their talk was about the new colony about twenty- 
five miles away whose foundations are already laid. 
The orchard has been out several years and is in a 
fine state. I begin work there tomorrow. I have 
learned that from the age of twenty, until a man 
is thirty two, he must work five hours each day at 
constructive labor, but all this time he has the last 
half of the day for study. If he decides to be a 
foreign missionary, and carry knowledge of the 
Highway to foreign lands, he can be set free from 
this labor after his twenty-fifth year ; and is given 
an allowance by all the colonies, to support him, 
wherever he chooses to go. But he must not go 
alone. In every land where it has been possible 
there is a working model on a small scale of the 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 101 

parent colony; and from this center of knowledge 
the work spreads. 

"I must devote my forenoons to domestic labors," 
said Lilly, 4 'but my afternoons shall be given to 
music." "What will you do in your spare time 
Marian?" "I am going to prepare for work among 
the children, under Miss Browne. It seems the most 
promising to me." "I am glad you have chosen 
that work, Marian, and I'm sure you will be success- 
ful at it," said mother with an approving look. 
"Well," announced George, "I am going to the 
swimming pool this morning, with one of the fel- 
lows, see you at the public breakfast room;" and 
he hurried away to keep his appointment. "I am 
going with Ellen this morning," said Lilly, getting 
up suddenly, "I had forgotten it. Won't you come 
too Marian?" "Not this morning, girlie, I am go- 
ing to the dining room with mother, as she has 
not yet been to the table assigned us. It is the 
third from Mrs. Goodwin's, next to south window. 
Mother and I will go early, so she can get accustom- 
ed to the crowd; we'll be waiting for you there. 
A few minutes later we left our apartment, and 
sauntered leisurly through the halls which were al- 
most deserted; for the majority of people had gone 
to the swimming pools, and the others had not yet 
left their homes. No one was in the dining room 
when we arrived, and we found our table and sat 
down hj it. Miss Browne came in a few minutes 
later; and hurried to us saying, "good morning, 
gentle people, I called at your door, and found you 
were out. The members of our visiting committee 
are going to L — today. If you know any fine 
families there who would make desirable citizens 



102 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



in the Highway, and will give their address we 
will see if we can induce them to join us." 

4 ' There is Mr. Davis and his wife, and seven child- 
ren. The parents are good honorable people, and 
their children are bright and lovable. They are 
very poor. I am sure they will be as glad to come 
as we were. He is just recovering from a long sick 
spell and I am afraid their savings are about gone.'' 
She took their address and went away ; and mother 
caught my hand saying, "I am so thankful Marian, 
the day Xilly got the letter that brought us here ; 
I had called on Mrs. Davis, and she told me how 
low their money was getting. I got back home to 
find George in despair. It was the darkest day of 
my life. I am ashamed, for I had not thought of 
them since." 

The great doors between the kitchen and dining 
room were now thrown open, and the former pre- 
sented a scene of orderly activity. Down the center 
of the room trooped the girls who were to carry 
the food to the tables ; and each took up her basket 
from that table having the proper number on it for 
some tables have as few as six diners; and some 
as high as twelve. They were so well drilled that 
there was not the slightest confusion ; and in a very 
few minutes the mothers of families, with their 
younger children, entered by other doors, and went 
quietly to their tables. There was the sounds of 
quiet conversation, and the pleasant tinkle of silver 
and crystal, as each mother or sister arranged the 
breakfast ; and by the time these were all seated 
the men and boys swarmed in with a little more 
noise, it must be admitted, than the feminine part 
of the household had made. By the time the last 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 103 



comers were seated, we were eating, for George ar- 
rived with the first masculine contingent. ' 'It's this 
way," explained Lilly: " Breakfast is in the ovens 
the night before, and cold air is turned through 
them. In the morning an electric current is turned 
on, and breakfast is cooked without any one to 
watch it. At just the right minute, the class who 
dish up are at their post behind those tables, just 
a hundred of them. In twenty minutes the food is 
in the carriers, and you see how quickly it was 
placed on the tables." "I'm so glad we were poor," 
continued Lilly meditatively, "for had we been rich 
I fear we would not have known enough to come." 
She drew a sigh of satisfaction as she finished, and 
a smile went the circuit of the table at her quaint 
remark. 

After breakfast, the men and boys went first, the 
mothers with their children retired, and the maidens 
who had brought the food in, cleared away the 
dishes, and took the baskets containing them into 
another room in the same orderly way. There they 
left the dishes, but the food basket was deposited 
on the tables in the kitchen. And as I went to work 
that same morning in the kitchen, I may just as 
well tell you all about the harmonious working of 
our domestic machinery. Of course under the old 
way of living, house work was a monotonous round 
of duties , often becoming drudgery if the health or 
spirits of the housewife was below normal; and 
among the majority of human beings these duties 
were added to the raising of a family. Under the 
conditions of those primitive times the general 
health was not so good as now; the mother and 
housewife was often a semi-invalid, and dragged a 



104 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



tired body through an appalling variety of duties,, 
that must be done each day. Wrecked nerves con- 
tributed to irritable tempers, and general wretched- 
ness in the home; and hindered the growth of 
tender smypathy between the mother and children, 
even though the wretchedness did not drive the 
children into bad company and wrong doing. When 
a mother works so hard during the day to keep her 
family fed, clothed and clean, that she has no 
energy in the evening to talk cheerfully with them, 
and enter into their interests ; something is sure to 
go wrong, and it is usually the children. As 
mothers live to enjoy and rear their offspring, it was 
an excess of cruelty to the mothers of the race to 
be placed in such hard circumstance. The world, 
which by the way promises more than it ever per- 
forms — had more attractions than the home and a 
hard working mother, and so weaned their child- 
ren's regard from them. That is all changed now, 
of course, and the mothers in our institutions are 
the healthiest and happiest of our members; for 
they have at last come into their rightful inherit- 
ance, and no office is considered so essential to the 
progress of the race as the part performed by 
mothers. We all live, indeed, for the children, and 
find our own happiness and spiritual growth, and 
its result, glowing physical health in ministering 
to theirs. 

The first day of active labor I went with my class 
to the kitchen as an apprentice. That day we 
washed the dishes used during the twenty four 
hours before for the" entire population of the home. 
The dishes were already in a rack and we placed 
them in the huge vats, and turned a spray of sudsy 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 105 



water on them, till they were perfectly clean, for 
this can be so manipulated that it reaches every 
dish. When the soapy water had done its work 
perfectly, we turned a spray of clear boiling water 
a proper length of time ; and then we took them out 
and carried them to the dining tables. We did not 
work hurriedly — in fact there was time for song 
and some merry antics from Lilly and some other 
young girls — yet in three hours we had the shining 
dishes on the tables ready for the next meal, as 
highly polished as though done by hand. It would 
have taken at least five hundred women an hour 
each, to have done the same work in individual 
families, though perhaps twice that number were 
actually employed. There were ten of us, and so 
we each washed dishes for five hundred people in 
three hours ; and enjoyed ourselves immensely, in 
the doing of it. Dinner was ready by the time we 
were through, and after dinner we had only to scrape 
the food from the dishes. Of this there was scarce- 
ly any and arrange them for next day. While this 
was being done, the silverware was being washed 
by the spraying apparatus in their own wire baskets 
and when these were placed on their respective 
tables, we were through until supper time. In the 
afternoon, both Lilly and I, went for awhile, into 
Miss Browne's department, and there were a num- 
ber of beginners she gave us a little talk: 

"To laugh at, deride, or repeat any instance of 
ignorance, in others before the young especially, 
is a grave offense in our society. Not so much that 
it harms the person committing it as the harm we 
do our own souls, and the outrage against the 
tender consciences of little children; who some- 



106 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



times learns their first lessons in deceit from the 
lips of a careless, unthinking mother. All souls, no 
matter how lowly in mental attainments, are en- 
dowed with the same faculties; though inattention 
to God 's law has hindered their harmonious develop- 
ment. They are all capable of growing into the 
high intelligence, and the lovable goodness, ex- 
pressed in the character of Christ. For this reason, 
we must love them, and our friendship for them 
must be built on this very knowledge- so it will be 
the right kind of friendship. Any insincerity, any 
mistaken ideas of our own superiority, and a con 
descending kindness — which is not kindness at all 
— will give offense, and we will have no power to 
help them. "We must be honest with our own souls. 
No man is superior to another. He is simply further 
along on the road of life : he has more to be grate- 
ful for, not more to be proud of. Simplicity of soul 
is the highest spiritual attribute, and we must be- 
come as little children before we can enter Christ's 
Kingdom of love and intelligence. Let us be sincere, 
and if a controversy comes up — which we trust 
never will — between us and another soul, let us 
never think it all their fault. We might be more 
displeasing to our Judge because we are indifferent 
to another soul's spiritual progress, than the other 
soul would be for stealing or telling a lie; for our 
Maker holds us accountable according to our knowl- 
edge. When we come into an intelligent under- 
standing of our own responsibility as workers in 
God's Kingdom, we will have very little censure 
for those who have not got as far along as we have, 
in the path of peace, for that is where all true 
knowledge leads." After this kindly little talk 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 107 



each student went into that department she had 
chosen, and so our education in the Highway of 
Life was duly started. 

On Tuesday morning the class I served with at- 
tended to the duties of grinding the flour, and bak- 
ing the bread for the community. The vast grain- 
eries or storehouses are in the basement, and the 
grain is all perfectly cleaned when put in. The 
machinery for grinding was perfect, and there were 
no dangerous belts. When the proper chute was 
opened the grain flowed down into the mill, and 
after being ground, was emptied into the vats, where 
the bread was all worked and shaped by machinery. 
While the leavened bread was rising, we made 
buns for the children's lunches, and bread for in- 
valids and the hospital, for a great many of our 
people eat only what used to be termed health 
bread. When the bread is raised, it moves forward 
by one mechanical device after another till it ar- 
rives at the slicing tables where enough is sliced 
for the next three meals by many long knives, 
worked by steel arms that never feel weariness ; 
and thirty minutes suffice to slice the bread for those 
three meals. Our last act is to place the bread on 
plates for the table; and the bread for dinner and 
supper is stored away in a receptacle in each table. 
I must explain, though, that the bread we made on 
Tuesday was not eaten until the following day for 
we do not court dyspepsia in the Highway. Wed- 
nesday morning my class along with several others 
took their place in the kitchen to prepare the meals 
for the day. The vegetables, fish and meats had all 
been prepared by other classes and were on the 
tables. We placed them in the ovens, which are 



108 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



large enough to cook dinner and supper together, 
and while they cooked we went into the large store- 
room, and arranged the fruit from the cold storage 
in baskets for the dinner tables. We also emptied 
the canned fruit for the supper tables from the 
twenty-five gallon jars in which it had been con- 
served, and it took four of them to supply the 
tables. Each jar is made of pure quartz, cast into 
the proper form, and the cover is of quartz; but 
each has an outside casing of metal and this metal, 
case has fittings so they can be handled by the 
levers that are used for the work. Each one, when 
emptied, is cleaned by turning a hose on, and then 
upsetting the jar by the same lever. It is then 
moved by the machinery to its place to be refilled 
later. All the fruit used in the home, except that 
kept in cold storage, is put up in this room; which 
at the fruit season swarms with women and girls 
preparing fruit to fill the hundreds of twenty-five 
gallon jars which it takes to keep the community 
supplied for a year. This is the room also where 
the vegetables are made ready for the kitchen. It 
is provided with long troughs, into which water 
is turned. On Thursday afternoon we have a half 
holiday from studies, and the young people do the 
weekly house-cleaning in the public rooms and halls ; 
and a grand time they have, though they must wear 
rain coats and rubbers, for water is used plentifully, 
and sometimes there is danger of drowning, so care- 
less are the youngsters in handling the hose. The 
floors are afterwards polished by the use of electri- 
city, and the Thursday afternoon house cleanings 
are considered by the younger grown-ups, as the 
pleasantest day of the week. I want to explain 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 109 



that every day after dinner has been dished up, the 
water is turned on in the kitchen ; and it is made 
clean for the next twenty-four hours, and all the 
rooms where food is handled is kept in the same 
condition. As for flies — well there is a legend that 
a fly did get in once, but did not live long there- 
after. 

On Friday our classes made the butter in our 
immense and beautiful dairy, and on Saturday we 
changed the table linen. On Saturday too, enough 
bread, butter, vegetables, and other food is prepared 
to last over Sunday; and so there is very little to 
do that day. When I think now of that first week 
of work in the community home, it seems to stand 
out in memory as the happiest week of my life. 
There were just one hundred women each week, to 
attend to the work of preparing food for five 
thousand people ; and because of labor-saving a]> 
pliances, and perfect organization, we did more 
work, and did it with more satisfaction, and with 
less effort, than a thousand women under the old 
plan would accomplish. And they would be busy 
all their waking hours; while we had our entire 
afternoons for study or for teaching, which was 
just as pleasant. 

When we breakfasted in our own apartments on 
Sunday morning, we all agreed that no wealth could 
tempt us to live outside of the Highway; and af^er 
mother had expressed herself as being perfectly 
happy and contented, she ended with the Scriptural 
quotation: "This is the way; walk ye in it." "It's 
a fine large way all right," returned George. "Do 
you really believe Mother, that the Lord had this 
in His mind all through the ages and was working 



110 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



to bring it about?" " Behold, I create new heavens 
and a new earth, saith the Lord," returned mother, 
promptly. 1 4 Before we were conscious of His exist- 
ence ; before we even had an existence, then, the 
Lord was planning good for us," said George 
meditatively. Mother nodded, without speaking; 
and I wanted to hear George go on, so I held my 
peace. "Well," he said at last with a look of de- 
cision on his face; "if that is the case its a pretty 
strong hint of what the Lord expects a man to do. 
For if a man expects to attain the God-like char- 
acter, he must of necessity engage in the Christ-like 
activity ; and work for the spiritual advancement of 
others. I think, mother, I will study the laws of 
the Highway and become a Missionary." Lilly 
clapped her hands, and mother and I expressed our 
satisfaction with his discussion. "Mr. Somers, the 
president of the managing board, has been telling 
me that he wishes to prepare a thousand men, at 
least, this year for foreign work; and I believe I 
would like the opportunity to found a new colony 
in some other country. I am going to begin study 
in earnest today under Mr. Aiken, who I believe 
is a reformed preacher. He claims to be, at least, 
and says he tried to teach people the way to heaven; 
and did not know that the Lord was calling upon 
men to establish on earth institutions founded up- 
on the law that rules the heavens : So by making 
straight paths for the feet of the weak — which 
means us — we may make it easier for men to obey 
the Divine law and finally attain to the 'Christ-like 
mind character and heart.' 

"Mr. Goodwin is also a reformed Judge. He 
says he grew weary of sitting in judgment on peo- 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 111 



pie who were not so vicious as they were victim- 
ized by the preponderance of the world-thought of 
the whole human family: whose thought, from the 
cradle to the grave, is one vast mistake. Like the 
insane, the criminal of all degrees are in that mental 
condition because they cannot rise above the world- 
thought. They have no bars to put up to defend 
themselves; and the greed, the lust, the hate, the 
murder-thought of the whole human family flows 
in, and engulfs reason or hinders it's development. 
The antidote for this dire condition, is to learn what 
thoughts occupy the mind of God, and think those 
thoughts; but he says these people have no helper 
and when they hear the gospel, it is presented to 
them in such a vague and inscientific way, that they 
cannot realize that it is of any practical interest to 
them. They still have the problems of the ever- 
lasting now, which has to do with food, clothing, 
and shelter, or the universal synonym for these 
necessities, which is money. 

"Mr. Goodwin says it has always been a question 
in his mind whether the founder of a vast fortune 
had not more hate against his fellows than the man 
who steals: for those who use the labor of their 
fellows returning them the least possible amount 
for their services, caring nothing for their material 
condition, does not love others in the least; and 
as he must have a well organized mind to succeed 
in business, he sins more against God's law, than 
the man of lesser abilities who does things not ap- 
proved by his fellows. But the Highway will right 
these in a few short years, ' ' concluded George hope- 
fully as we rose from the table. 

The next morning I went into the clothing de~ 



112 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



partment to work, and helped to make boys' cloth- 
ing. That was not of so much interest to me as the 
cooking, and we worked the forenoon of the six 
days of the week. The third week I spent in the 
laundry, and I enjoyed that very much for the use 
of machinery, so simplified all the different work 
there, that it was a real pleasure, and the ironing 
was a joy forever. The fourth week we spent in 
hospital work, although there were not many sick 
people; and we had lectures on the practical care 
of infants and small children, for we spent an hour 
each day in the nurseries. 

This latter department interested me more than 
any other, for here were the future citizens of God's 
Kingdom in embryo ; and as the helplessness, and 
innocence of babyhood is the most powerful of ap- 
peals to our sympathy, we were all alive in our 
interest in the precious mites of humanity we had 
the care of there. Of course the mothers had the 
actual care of the infants but it was our duty, as 
well as privilege, to relieve them an hour every 
forenoon. All the different rooms of the nursery 
were large and airy, and flooded with light. Each 
room had a caretaker over the little ones, usually 
an elderly lady who because of her love for children 
chose that work. Each room was surrounded by 
galleries where the mothers worked at the pro- 
duction of clothing, and so were near at hand to 
minister to their children. Those who could walk 
had a separate room, and there was no furniture 
with square corners to bruise, and no stoves to burn 
their tender flesh. Here they played, and slept 
when the time came, and the mothers of these were 
not always present ; but were active in the domestic 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 113 



duties of the liorae. In this room were a number o£ 
elderly women, who taught them little plays, and 
began to prepare them for the kindergarten. 

That department took them in charge at three 
years, and after going through the different grades, 
they arrived at the age of five, ready for the school- 
room proper. Of course the three years in the 
kindergarten is three years of healthful body build- 
ing play and exercise. After work hours each 
mother has the care of her own child, if she wishes, 
but they are so happily employed, and are taken 
into the grounds twice every day when the weather 
permits for an airing, that they never fret for 
change. At four years of age, when their table 
manners begin to conform to public opinion, they 
go to the tables in the public dining rooms; before 
that age their meals are served by classes, made 
up of the mothers, before the meal in the dining 
room. On those days when the families eat in their 
own apartments of course the children are taken 
home to dine. The older children go right from the 
dining room to their respective school-rooms, morn- 
ing and noon, and are alwasy with their parents in 
the evening : they never play about the public halls, 
and are always quiet when they pass through them 
at any time. The vast conservatory is their play 
ground in bad weather; and in fair weather the 
grounds resound with their hilarity, when the play 
hours arrives. The school-rooms are really in the 
auditorium, and the different grades are partitioned 
off by walls of very light composition board in 
sections, hinged together in such a way as to form 
a perfect screen. They are about ten feet high, 
and can be rolled back and made into an ornamental 



114 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



alcove between the large windows, when this room 
is used in the evening for public meetings. 

The children are provided with chairs, suited to 
their size, and tables instead of the usual desks. 
These tables are light, and fold together, and are 
easily disposed of when the room is needed in the 
evenings. Each one is large enough for six pupils. 
The children are not required to sit in one spot, like 
little effigies, but are privileged to move about if 
they do it quietly. There is a gallery around the 
auditorium, and if a child proves itself trustworthy 
they are allowed to take their books, and go there 
to study. If they fail to have their lessons at class 
time, they are denied the right for a few days, and 
two or three times usually makes them attentive to 
their studies. 

The school rooms are very quiet, and if the teach- 
ers were not so busy hearing the classes, they would 
have plenty of time for meditation, for all these 
children wear shoes with fibre soles and heels and 
walk noiselessly. Every young woman in the home 
has turns at teaching, if they have sufficient edu- 
cation; and so, the fifth week I spent in the class 
room with the children of kindergarten age. Miss 
Browne had given me a few hints as to my duties, 
so I thought I was getting along nicely the first 
day till one little Miss said to me, with rather an 
injured air, "You never taught school before did 
you Miss Sharply?" 

"No Edith," I replied, "Why do you ask?" 

You never said, "God bless you," this morn- 
ing, when you spoke to us," she said naively. Well 
I won't forget again, God bless you for reminding 
me; and every morning thereafter, when 1 was in 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 115 



the class rooms of any grade, I said, "Good morn- 
ing children, God bless you;" and the children 
joyously replied : "Good morning Miss Sharply, God 
bless you." I thought it a beautiful mode of saluta- 
tion, and found it was used universally in the Homes 
of the Highway. 

Some on the outside might think the children 
would make nuisance of themselves, by going into 
other people's homes, but such is not the case: 
Neither children or older people visit in the homes 
of their friends without an invitation, and though 
of course there are some calls made evenings; there 
is not so much of that form of social intercourse, 
for everyone sees, and speaks to many acquaintances 
in the course of work hours; and so we are mostly 
ready to spend our evenings in our own homes. 

Three evenings each week we have music, and 
these concerts are attended by the young people 
from farm and town, for miles around, and some of 
those have developed into creditable performers on 
different instruments. In our conservatory of music, 
lessons are given free to all who come, and the op- 
portunity to practice to those who have no instru- 
ments in their own homes. All these j 7 oung people 
will in time become citizens in the Highway ; and, 
indeed, they are doing that now as fast as they get 
married, as those without requisite capital to start 
farming need no urging to cast their lot with us. 

The young people of the Home are organized to 
carry a knowledge of our methods, and the moral 
object to be attained in our institutions to outsiders. 
On Sundays, both young men and maidens, with a 
few older ones, make excursions, far afield in quest 
of localities that have never been visited before, 



116 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



where our work and its aims are explained to thein. 
As a result we have many desirable members added 
to us, who bring some means, and usually a bright 
family of children along with them. The young men 
from the colony are a jolly, wide-awake lot; and 
when they meet a farmer whom they know there is 
usually a lot of talk that could hardly be called 
scientific, but is exceedingly good-natured nonsense, 
about what they are missing, by not coming into 
the new system of living. 

One Sunday on one of these excursions, Miss 
Browne, George, and I were in one of the cars ; and 
we met a farmer and family on their way to church. 
George happened to know him, and called out, * 1 Mr. 
Wilson, are you about ready for an unconditional 
surrender ? ' ' 

"Not yet young man," returned the older one, 
in the same friendly spirit. "Crop prospects are 
too good this year, and I want to pay off that 
mortgage, before I give in. It's a point of honor 
with me. I won't be downed by this system." 

"Too bad; too bad:" shouted George after him, 
and then he courteously placed an extra rug over 
our knees as it was getting cooler, and George is 
very solicitous about Miss Browne's comfort. I 
think I shall have her for a sister, and I am sure 
I could not be better suited if I searched the world 
for one. 

Our society opens its hospitals for the sick, 
whether they have anything to pay or not, and all 
who are inmates have the advantage of the best of 
medical advice, and the best of care. We have many 
physicians who were successful in making fortunes 
in their practice, who, when they were ready to 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 117 



retire came among us; and their lives are not very 
strenuous here, for there is very seldom any severe 
sickness among us, and contagious diseases are un- 
known among the children. Many claim that it is 
the total absence of hate in our Highway, and the 
actual development of kindness, and love among all 
the members. Certainly if a merry heart doeth 
good like a medicine," as the proverb declares, that 
acounts for our freedom from phisical ills; for one 
never sees a sulky, sullen, or even melancholy face 
among us. Though the older people are quiet and 
serious enough, they are always cheerful and happy 
looking. 

There was one dear woman from a distance in the 
hospital, whose life had been one of continual work, 
and I suppose worry, because of unremitting labor. 
She said to me one day after she began to recover; 
"I just lie here, and look about me at this brighj 
room and the bright faces of every one who comes 
in and, thank God for the brightness. It seems like 
heaven to me for all my life I have been longing 
for brightness, for real life. When I was little my 
parents were poor, and we lived on a farm. My 
mother was not very strong or well, and the house 
we lived in was not finished. No matter how much 
we worked, it never looked right. It was dreary. 
Mother died when I was fifteen, and I did the best 
I could for the others younger than I, but our home 
was always dreary in looks. Young folks though 
will be happy in spite of every discouragement, and 
we were moderately happy. I was married at 
eighteen, and when John and I first went to house- 
keeping in the dingy farm house, we planned to 
remodel it the next year; but crops were poor for 



118 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



a few years, and prices were low for years after 
that, and we had a large family of little ones, so 
the work required to make our home cheerful has 
never been done. 

" Our oldest child is in college. We can't deny 
them their chance in the world, but it seems so hope- 
less. I must soon be going back to that dreary old 
house, and leave all this brightness." ' 'Why don't 
you come and live among us and educate all your 
children in our college?" I asked. "Have you col- 
leges, too," asked Mrs. Horton, with a look of inter- 
est I had never seen on her face before. "Yes in- 
deed, and if your children are like you I know they 
will be very acceptable in our society." 

"I am going right back home next week, and never 
give up till John sells the farm, and comes here to 
live. Just to think, I could have brightness around 
me all the rest of my life." Mrs. Horton improved 
rapidly after this conversation, that she was able 
to go home the next week; and just about a month 
later I was serving with the reception committee, 
when who should walk in but Mrs. Horton with her 
husband and six of their children. I greeted them 
warmly, for I loved the little patient mother; and 
was introduced to Mr. Horton who shook my hand 
vigorously; while he explained that, mother just 
pestered the life out of him, and he was compelled 
to give in in self defiance. And so when a buyer 
appeared he had sold out for five thousand; and 
here they were, with the exception of the one, in 
college, who would come later. While I shook 
hands with the youngsters, the mother informed me 
that John tried to bribe her by promising her a new 
home, having like so many, an indisposition to 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 119 



change. "I knew we could never get so much 
brightness anywhere else, and I wouldn't give up," 
she said smilingly. 

"You did right, Mr. Horton, to yield, and I trust 
you will never regret it." I took him to the room 
where the managing board did all the clerical work. 
Here I found Mr. Somers, and having introduced 
the new comer went back to the family. 

"I am so glad you have come to stay I said to 
Mrs. Horton, and now, I will show you to an apart- 
ment which will be your home. It is already fin- 
ished." 

Just then Mrs. Gregory, who was also on the 
committee, returned to the hall ; and I told her Mrs. 
Horton had been in the hospital the previous month, 
and has now returned with her family to stay. 

"I remember Mrs. Gregory. She came into the 
ward several times when I was here." 

"Are you that little thin woman that was sick 
so long? We were afraid you would not recover. 
You seemed so frail," and she shook hands again. 
God bless you, children, she said and went forward 
promptly, to meet a dejected looking man who had 
just come in. 

I took the family to an apartment suited to their 
numbers; and the oldest girl went back with me 
to the hall to escort Papa, to their new home when 
he was through talking to Mr. Somers. He came 
out presently, and seemed thoroughly content by 
what had passed between them, and I promised to 
see that their supper was sent up to their rooms, 
for there was no vacant tables just then in the 
dining hall. So they went away, highly pleased 
with their reception in the home. 



120 



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The next afternoon it was my pleasant duty ta 
go with them to the reception that is held for all 
new comers. Mr. Somers, Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Aiken,, 
and all the other of the twelve good men and true 
who were the founders, and were now the manag- 
ing board of officers, were there with their wives, 
for on this day we had some notable visitors, To- 
them I introduced Mrs. Horton, but found Mr. 
Horton had already met all the men. 

It was my duty the next morning to go with the- 
children and introduce them to their teachers, and 
Mrs. Horton accompanied me on the rounds. Then 
I must show her where the table had been placed 
for her family; and later took her to the board of 
directors of domestic work, and having introduced 
her to the woman presiding over this board, left 
her there. 

You must not think that I spent all my hours at 
physical labor, for I did only three hours of real 
work every morning; and had time that I could 
have spent leisurely at home, had I wished to da 
so ; but I was not much given to meditation, and 
preferred always to be on the move; for there was 
always something fresh and interesting to do for 
some one. I had studies every day, which occupied 
three hours in the afternoon. I was preparing for 
the same duties that Miss Browne performed, and 
she was my guide in all my studies. 

"You see, Marian," she said to me one day, "the 
work just manages itself after the classes are once 
formed, and have learned the routine; and what 
we need more than anything else are teachers, and 
organizers. Mr. Somers, whom I consider a very 
far seeing man, is constantly bringing bright young 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 121 



men and women into the society at his own expense,, 
to provide for the rush that he says is coming ; for 
it is plain that this movement is gathering mo 
mentum: and within the next few years there may 
be so many clamoring for organization into societies, 
that we cannot prepare organizers and teachers fast 
enough to set them in motion, according to our 
constitution. Workers will always be more plenti- 
ful than thinkers," she continued smiling, "and 
though they may not realize it, they need the think- 
ers as much as the thinkers need them. 

Mr. Goodwin says, that when the first society was 
organized, he and a lot of other men of his age, 
imagined they were going right out and become 
gentleman farmers, having modern machinery of 
course; but the hand of God was in it in a way 
they had never dreamed; and it reached such pro- 
portions that their whole time is taken up directing 
others; and he says there will always be work for 
men having organizing ability. It is wonderful, 
she went on musingly, how different people are so 
differently gifted. Some have the ability of over- 
seeing others, and can accomplish so much, though 
they are not organizers. Others are content to 
serve at any labor under the direction of some other 
mind. 

Then she repeated Longfellow's "The Builders," 
and when she came to the lines 

"Nothing useless is or low." 

She repeated it, and said: "According to the old 
pagan way of life, if a man did hard and unpleas- 
ant manual labor, and worked for so many hours 
that all the natural ambition was reduced to zero, 



122 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



his more fortunate neighbors who had time for cul- 
ture and the refinements of life, looked upon him 
as beneath them; and though he might be superior 
in character to many of their associates they saw 
nothing in that character to esteem. Each genera- 
tion grew up thinking less of the importance of 
character than the preceding one, until in the larger 
cities, character is just about forgotten, and men 
are judged entirely by the amount of their property. 
I have heard Mr. Goodwin, and Mr. Somers both 
say that the farmers have really kept alive our 
civilization; for among them men are respected on 
account of character and not solely for their hold- 
ings. The young hear even the poorest men spoken 
of with appreciation, because of their moral quali- 
ties. This has kept alive the idea that character 
is really of some importance, even in paganism. Of 
course we impress upon the young that the attain- 
ment of moral qualities, truth, kindness, and sin- 
cerity, is the only sure foundation for a successful 
human life," 

One Sunday evening Mother and I were reading 
and talking by turns when Lilly came in breezily, 
saying, "I'm glad we are to go back to the kitchen 
tomorrow, Marian. I am also glad to get back to 
that delightful region myself." I returned, watch- 
ing Lilly as she danced gracefully about. 

Mother looked at us smiling, as she said: "Why 
girls, I did not know you were so fond of cooking." 

"I always was fond of pic-nics, though," said 
Lilly, "and cooking here is one grand outing. I 
would rather cook than eat" she informed us, as 
she subsided into a huge chair with her book. 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 123 

Mother smiled happily at me, for Lilly was quite 
a hearty child; and did so enjoy her meals. 

George came in later, and gave an account of the 
trip he had made that day. After awhile we said 
good-night, and retired to our slumbers, with the 
cheerful confidence that tomorrow's activities would 
be as pleasant as each day of the preceding two 
months had been. 

Besides the other departments in our college, we 
had a real art school, and as I had always longed 
for an opportunity to learn, "to daub colors on 
canvas" as George always called it, I was enrolled 
in this department. I was encouraged to do so by 
seeing so many examples by beginners in our art 
gallery, and in other public places, which were 
really wonderful, considering the few years it had 
existed, and the fact that the majority of the stu- 
dents did not belong to an artistic family ; but were 
the children of artisans, farmers, and business peo- 
ple. I spoke to Mrs. Goodwin about it one day when 
we were looking at a painting that had been hung 
in the reception room. 

"How is it," I asked, "these beginners do such 
good work?" 

"Well you see their motive is good, is in fact al- 
together altrustic. The incentive of gain, never a 
very noble incentive for activity, is entirely absent. 
And you notice, too, that the largest pictures are 
in the public rooms. Of course, each artist does 
some work for their own homes, and no doubt they 
do it quite as well, though there the pictures are 
smaller. They are all ambitious to do good work 
for the public rooms, and they certainly have suc- 
ceeded beyond all our expectations." 



124 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



I liad learned that most of the professors and 
teachers of art and music were those who had been 
retired from the institutions of learning they had 
previously served, to make way for younger men, 
who were supposed to be more up-to-date; and our 
board of managers had planned wisely when they 
Undertook to secure such experienced teachers in 
the "Highway," for citizenship was a small return 
for the services of such a body of men. I have 
already spoken of the adoption, by the colony of 
children, and of widows with families; but I found 
that they had always followed the plan of adopting 
grandmothers. Any desirable young man or woman 
who has a dependent mother, or other elderly rela- 
tive, is accepted as a matter of course; but if an 
elderly woman, who has no suitable home, or who 
is unhappily dependent, and has the right character, 
makes application for admittance she is received, 
and is adopted for a society grand-mother. Some- 
times these are taken into homes, if a citizen finds 
them congenial, but they have apartments of their 
own; and there are no more beautiful rooms in our 
Home than the ones provided for the grand- 
mothers. They knit, darn the dining room linens, 
water and tend the flowers of their own beautiful 
conservatory, and are often comforters in homes 
visited by death. Children are often taken to visit 
them as a reward for some act of self denial; and 
the young people treat them with great affection. 
How could a home get on without plenty of Grand- 
mothers? These elderly women eat in their own 
dining room as a rule, but they are often the guests 
of some family, and are never left behind, if they 
care to go, when a pic-nic is arranged for the young 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 



125 



people and children. One of the outings that every- 
body enjoys is when we go to fish in the artificial 
lake that had been made in a small valley, a few 
miles from the home. It is only about three feet 
deep, and the bed is gravelled. The men and larger 
boys attire themselves for the sport, and wading 
in, catch them with dip nets. There are concrete 
walks, and seats, and delightful shade; and there 
are islands, which look very natural, covered with 
beautiful trees, and these are connected with the 
shore by rustic bridges. All the shore, the bridges, 
and the islands, are usually lined by those who fish 
with hook and line; and great is the excitement 
when one of these ardent sportsman, or woman, get 
a fish, which is very seldom. They are too well 
fed to be tempted to impale themselves on the 
cruel hooks, and prefer to be caught in the nets. 
Thursday afternoons is our outing day, but some- 
times it is changed on account of the weather. 

We always eat supper under the trees when we 
can, and wash our granite-ware dishes — a work in 
which all except the most dignified join — and leave 
our camp in perfect order for the next time. I will 
say that we usually have enough fish for the next 
day's dinner as a result, though this is not always 
the case. 

Time passes, whether we are cheerful or doleful, 
and one Monday morning at breakfast, Lilly said 
retrospectively, "We have been in this blessed spot 
six months." 

"Yes," returned Mother, "six happy months, and 
we trust there will be many more." 

"Could we not be just as contented in some other 
assembly of the 'Highway?' inquired George. 



126 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



"Well, we might, after we get used to it," as- 
sented Lilly, "but it don't seem that we could meet 
so many dear people anywhere else." 

"I suppose we could, but it seems this Assembly 
of Zion is especially blessed in the character of its 
inhabitants," said Mother. "I have not heard or 
known of one unpleasant happening since we came. ' * 

' ' Things do happen sometimes though, ' ' remarked 
George smiling. "There was a boy, a very stubborn 
boy, in one of our colonies, who thought he could 
defy the community sense of what was proper for 
a boy to do. He was a big boy, and so strong that 
it took eight stout men to handle him with care ; 
two holding firmly to each limb to prevent his 
struggling, carried him into a padded room, and 
left him bound to a couch, but when he was free in 
a few minutes he found the door securely locked. 
Books were there and papers, but it is not likely he 
looked into them for awhile. When the clock showed 
that dinner time had arrived, he looked longingly 
toward the door. Lo; a panel at the side was 
opened, and a tray was set on a convenient shelf. 
On the tray was a note, from one in authority, which 
said 'my dear Howard, the whole community i-cgrets 
the little misunderstanding of our lawc, which you 
showed this morning, when you refused to perform 
the usual, and pleasant duties of boys of your age. 
We feel that the contagion might spread to others, 
and instead of reign of law, we might have anarchy. 
So we will make your detention as easy as possible, 
but the only key to that door is obedience to law- 
ful authority. Your mother knows all about this, 
and agrees that yours is a serious malady, and needs 
prompt and radical treatment. I will call at the 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 127 



door this evening, and see if you have recovered 
enough to be set at liberty. The boys are going 
nutting tomorrow, and if you are well enough you 
might like to go with them. ' A young fellow I know 
in that colony copied the note, and showed it to 
me. He thought it showed consummate diplomacy, 
because Howard is very fond of all sports. The 
writer of the note, a man of very fine mental at- 
tainments as well as a very kindly heart , went and 
talked with the culpret, and there was no more 
rebellion in that community. It was the unexpected- 
ness of the remedy, perhaps, that made it so effect- 
ual. Howard's doting mother is a widow, and she 
would beg and plead for him to do right ; but when 
he had men to deal with, who were not too refined 
to be natural, he yielded. Those men who acted so 
scientifically, were farmers and laborers, and it cer- 
tainly takes the qualities they showed to deal with 
the stubborn and rebellious. The man of culture 
and refinement made the way easy for a repentant 
boy to take his place among his mates, and I under- 
stand that there never was a word uttered to re- 
mind him of his mistake. I had such an interest in 
its immediate success, that I want to remember all 
about it ; for some occasion might come up when it 
could be repeated with great profit." 

"1 promised Miss Browne, my dear Alicia, I would 
record my impressions of life in the 'Highway,' in 
the order of their happening, but find it hard in this 
particular to keep my promise as so much is happen- 
ing all the time. Some of these happenings impress 
me as being of more importance than the rest, that 
I am inclined to jumble them some in recording 
them. 



128 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



"I have never told you about the baths, though I 
have enjoyed them so many weeks, and have been 
so improved in health that when I returned last 
week to L on an errand for the Home, the pastor of 
my old church, whom I know well, would have 
passed me on the street without knowing me, had 
I not spoken ; and even then he would scarcely be- 
lieve I was the same girl, as the pale thin one, he 
was acquainted with. As a result of that meeting, 
he and his entire family are now in our Home, for 
one loved daughter was seemingly a hopeless invalid, 
but she is already beginning to improve in our 
wonderful hospital. 

"Of course we have all the baths known to man, 
but our medical experts have combined them with 
the use of the different colors of the spectrum, and 
at the same time use magnetism. Different combi- 
nations are used for different diseases, and it has 
been proved that a certain combination will tone 
up an anemic constitution, and build the patient 
up in flesh in a short time. 

"One of our doctors has said that we can pro- 
duce all climatic conditions in our hospitals. And 
all our members have the use of such highly de- 
veloped sanitariums. No one waits until they are 
sick. We are indeed, a very healthy people. 

"But invalids from the outside world come to us 
in great numbers, not only because we have the 
best hospitals, but partly for the reason that the 
charges are so very modertae. In this way our 
highway' has become very popular, and many peo- 
ple of wealth have joined us after being restored to 
health, when they had given up hope. 

"Those who come on account of our hospital 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 129 



service, must consent to be instructed in the Truth 
upon which this way is founded; and, of course, 
no one is received into membership who will not 
consent to study all the known laws of mind, and 
pledge himself to make Christ's teaching the law 
of his life. No man is expected, or asked to profess 
anything, but all are affectionately urged to carry 
Christianity into every duty as well as every 
thought. 

"All the forces of Nature ministers to the health 
of those who are obedient ; for the race was brought 
into existence that they might become God-like. 
Nature, which is a manifestation of God's goodness, 
must therefore be the very best provision possible 
for their growth. 

Some might object that we use material remedies, 
and do not depend enough on spiritual healing. 

As we look upon Nature as a manifestation of 
spiritual forces, we regard magnetism, electricity, 
and the colors of the spectrum purely spiritual: 
and we are constantly holding before the mind of 
the patient the thoughts that are life. 

Christ had the perfect mind of God, and so could 
supply, or at least was the medium through whom 
Spirit supplied, all that was lacking to bring a soul 
into a harmonious state, so that life could flow into 
it. No human has in this age attained to the mind 
of Christ ; and it seems reasonable and right as one 
of our teachers pointed out, that all should grow 
into this knowledge together. 

There will always be leaders, men and women 
who have attained to such spiritual harmony that 
their presence is peace. They are so sweetly sane 
that they spread law and order around them wher- 



130 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



ever they happen to be. Such people are blessed 
in being a blessing to others ; and many of our .young 
people, seeing their beautiful lives, strive more 
seriously to attain to the same peaceful state. My 
own mother is a lovely example of a ripe Christian 
character ; and since all the burdens of poverty has 
been removed, has attained such a state of health 
that she is really beautiful. 

George sometimes tells her, she is growing more 
good-looking every day, and informs Lilly and I 
that she outshines us both. I am truly ashamed to 
insert personalities into what I wish to make a pure- 
ly scientific article, but I hope to be pardoned. Most 
people are partial to their mother; and I have 
special reasons for rejoicing that my mother in her 
old age should be so healthy, and so happy, as a 
reward for the years of labor she endured without 
a murmer, while her children were small. 

In my search after Truth, since entering the 
"Highway," I have listened to many of our gifted 
teachers ; and I remember how surprised I was, when 
one of them told us that life is everywhere present, 
and everywhere acting upon and, within every mind 
that has the substance with which it can correspond. 

If a man denies entrance to thoughts of good- 
will, pity, forgiveness, unselfishness — every thought 
that brings a man nearer to the Christ character — 
he cannot escape death; for the mind that these 
thoughts build, when finished, is life. 

Death is impossible to the organism that is per- 
fected in the spiritual thought ; and Paul tells us 
plainly that, "if we have the Spirit of Him that 
raised Christ from the dead, it will quicken our mor- 
tal bodies." 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 131 



Christ himself said: ' 'He that lives by under- 
standing me, shall never die. ' ' We naturally con- 
clude that no one has ever understood Christ fully, 
but that does not imply that none ever will; for 
Scripture testifies, over and over again, that the 
race will grow into such harmony with God that 
none shall need to tell his neighbor of God's law, 
for all shall know from the least to the greatest. 

Surely death will then be overcome ; and when one 
of God's children has finished their work here, and 
prepared for a higher activity, they will be taken 
into the spiritual plane of living as Enoch, Elijah, 
and Christ. For God is no respector of persons, as 
His law is universal in its application, when we at- 
tain the proper character, we can with certainty 
look for the same reward. And when this time 
comes, we know that all tears will be wiped away, 
for there cannot, then be anything to cause tears; 
and God will truly be dwelling with mankind, be- 
cause the thoughts in the Mind of God will be man's 
habitual consciousness. 

To us on earth now, death may arrive before we 
have overcome ; but when we have made a beginning 
in the spiritual way of thinking, we can lie down 
with the firm conviction that the grave cannot hold 
us long; and we will soon be permitted to take up 
our delightful task and bring it to a successful end. 
When I told these wonderful things to the family, 
Lilly, who is always exuberant, danced about and 
clapped her hands; but I noticed that she studied 
more earnestly than ever and became more thought- 
ful. I had not supposed that she ever thought of 
death, but she told me later, that the thought of 
dying terrorized her. 



132 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



I had never thought of my own death, and it 
seems strange, but I had always resented death , be- 
cause it seemed that it was an outrage against 
nature , and the Scripture teaches that it is ; for 
Christ says it is the enemy that will be the last to 
be destroyed. So by extending the rule of Spirit in 
ourselves, and persuading others to submit their 
minds to the right-thinking of God, we are helping 
to roll the curse from earth, and lessening the em- 
pire of doubt and death. 

When the whole human race realizes that to have 
life they must so order their thoughts that Spirit 
can build that thought substance into life, we will 
see wonderful things in this grand old planet; and 
so we must go on working harder than ever to bring 
all minds into the right attitude to God. 

Miss Browne, and the earnest young women she 
is so carefully preparing for work among the young, 
are having real work on this line now; for our so- 
cieties are beginning to take in all classes of people. 
Many of the children coming in now, are criminally 
inclined. 

We deal with the girls, and the boys under six. 
Those past that age are in the charge of men. 

Many of these children are so disordered, by the 
kind of thought that has become habitual to them, 
that we must work with them for months before 
we can have them at large among the children of 
better protected homes. We would as readily turn 
a victim of bubonic plague loose in our society as 
to permit one of these mentaly diseased children to 
infect the others with diseased thought; for there 
is no infection so dangerous, and so rapid in its 
action, as the infection of debased world thought ; 



LIFE OF .THE COMMUNITY HOME 133 



and we are all like parents who are alert to every 
malign influence that threatens the precious children 
of the " High way.' ' 

So we keep them separated from the others, and 
work faithfully to eradicate all that is vicious, by 
instilling all that is good; and we find that the use 
of the baths, with all that accompanies them, has 
remarkable regenerating influence. 

It is not to be disputed that a good bath has al- 
ways possessed regenerating power. How many 
naughty little children are rendered docile by that 
means, and it is easily explained. Too much blood 
in certain parts of the brain causes perverse action : 
the bath, causing a change in circulation, relieves 
the sufferer. Why has there never been an effort 
to reform the criminally inclined by such a system 
of baths as we have? Well we are trying it now 
and results are very encouraging. It is not really 
natural for any human to be criminal; and it only 
needs energy and truth of the right kind, applied 
in the right way, to bring the criminal to reason, 
for that is what they lack. 

Sometimes we find it necessary to separate child- 
ren from their parents for a time; and as this is 
agreed upon beforehand none can complain. 

Our societies will not permit parents to chastise 
their children in the old fashioned way, holding 
that for a parent or anyone else, to strike a child 
is sure evidence that the wrong doer has never 
learned self control, and so is not fit to govern 
others. 

Some good mothers have insisted on their hus- 
bands coming into the " Highway," because the 
protector of their household had such a raspy temper 



134 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



that life was almost unendurable. These men are 
not 'bad' in any sense, for they may be faithful in 
all the duties of supporting their children; but the 
world in its reaction upon them, causes this ex- 
cessive fretfulness of spirit. 

This state is not unusual, for many women and 
even children are 'touchy' and discordant, beyond 
belief; but men are the chief sufferers because on 
them devolves the task of supplying the necessities, 
and this usually calls for steady work or attention 
to business the year round. 

The nerves of the human family even before the 
war was "all frazzled out," and it was a natural 
result of the stress and strain of existence. 

Even school children would and did have nervous 
prostration, because of the excessive mental work 
necessary to keep up; and still our expansive edu- 
cators kept adding to their labor. Why we can- 
not imagine, unless they persuaded themselves that 
the body social would be better off if a large per- 
cent could be sent to insane asylums every year. 

Among us we have worked out a method which 
can never result in over-study, and yet those who 
can do the work with ease are permitted to go ahead 
at their own natural gait; while the slower ones 
are carefully trained in practical knowledge, and 
take an easy route to the same goal ; for some child- 
ren seem to develop slowly, and it takes longer for 
them to finish the course. 

In the case of the morally disordered young we 
stay with them, always directing their play as well 
as their studies. We are constantly putting the 
right thought before them. We give them all the 
pleasure we possibly can, and point out to them 



LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY HOME 135 

that without the right kind of thoughts they can 
never be happy, or make others so. The world- 
thought of the lowest type was held before thera by 
their former associates, in vile or profane talk un- 
til their disordered mental habits were formed, so 
we go to work to undo their work in the only scien- 
tific way, and usually, it is done in about three 
months. 

Naturally we win their affection by unfailing 
kindness , and the only discipline is to refuse per- 
mission to go on one of our very pleasant outings. 
Even a very perverse child is usually conquered by 
being deprived of this pleasure once. In those cases, 
where profanity is repeated by children in sleep, 
we give them the most up-to-date treatment for 
diseased nerves; and we believe that those who 
offend in their waking hours, are afflicted to some 
extent by diseased brain tissue. 

We know that old and hardened offenders of this 
kind, find it hard, even with all the help the "High- 
way" can give, to reform themselves ; and the reason 
must be that the very particles of their brain be- 
come disordered. It takes long and severe efforts 
in right-thinking, to restore them to the state they 
were in before they became transgressors. 

Were it not for the all pervading Spirit of good- 
ness, that never deserts while there is the smallest 
chance of lodgement in a mind, our work would be 
hopeless. We believe we are living in the last days 
of that time mentioned by Isaiah when he says : 
"Let the wicked (wrong-doing) forsake his way, 
and the wrong thinking man his thought; and let 
him return unto our God for he will abundantly 
pardon." And from the rapid changes for the 



136 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



better, and the lessening of all crimes, we really 
feel hopeful that the time of Restitution is near; 
and that something grand and glorious beyond hu- 
man conception, is ready for the race, when a few 
more decade has enabled all to travel further on 
the way of life. 

I must tell in this little book about weddings in 
our colonies. 

Young people who are to be married usually wait 
for the opening of some new home, in which they 
expect to take up a residence. 

The day before the opening of the home, they 
invite their friends to our assembly room ; and there 
in the presence of their own families, and their 
closest friends, the ceremony is performed. Some- 
times wedding parties of different couples, are com- 
ing and going all day. 

Frequently parents accompany a son or daughter 
to the new residence, and sometimes the young peo- 
ple stay on in the old home, and the parents are the 
ones who make the change. 

The only social notice taken of the newly married 
ones is a reception held in the auditorium where 
the colonly holds all its public gatherings, and here 
they receive congratulations, and bid good-bye to 
their acquaintances, as I must bid good-bye to the 
reader. 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 



S all know, the friction between the laboring 



people, and the employers, and controlers of 
the industries of all nations was becoming fiercer 
and deadlier before the war. Great hopes were 
inspired in the minds of many people that some- 
thing would be done to insure more contentment 
among all classes, and there was much hopeful talk 
of a 'Reconstruction' of society that would change 
human conditions, and make a near-heaven of our 
earth. 

When the laboring people, after the war, realized 
that the talk of reconstruction from the financiers 
and captains of industry meant a further increase 
of their own power over labor, their resentment and 
disgust was increased a thousand fold, and the 
efforts of each contestant to undo the other was 
renewed with great energy. 

There were attempts to pass some very degenerate 
laws. Those who imagine wealth to be the most 
sacred thing on earth tried hard to turn back again 
to the middle ages; and if these moles of creation 
could have had their own way it would, no doubt, 
have shortly become treasonable for a laboring man 
to ask for either an increase of wages, or a decrease 
of hours of labor. 

One state did create an industrial court, to which 
all laborers were to appeal for redress of grievances ; 
but the laborer was very suspicious of the real pur- 




138 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



pose of such a court, and we must admit that if the 
judges of an industrial court were in accord with 
employers the laboring people would receive scant 
sympathy. 

Pharaoh's reply to the Hebrews when they begged 
for straw that they might complete the excessive 
labor demanded of them, springs so spontaneously to 
the lips of men when they have the upper hand in 
a controversy, that we can be reasonably sure it 
would not be a decade before the judges of industry 
would be repeating that ancient remark to men who 
can help to elect the chief ruler of their country. 

The managers of the monied interests, and that 
part of the population who are at their beck and 
call, never can discern the difference between the 
men of three thousand years ago, and those of the 
present time. But a difference certainly exists , and 
therein lay danger to all the governments of earth, 
for repressive measures by those who held the 
whip-hand, and are determined that labor should be 
swept from the earth rather than permit them to 
claim a share in it, is the cause of all violence. 

In some countries as we know labor took up the 
challenge, and the two opposing parties almost wiped 
each other from the earth ere the controversy was 
settled. 

So the bolsheviki manufacturers, who would not 
hesitate at violence to maintain his privileges, would 
perhaps have goaded the restless wage earners into 
the foolishness of violence ; but that was impossible 
in a country where so many in all classes sympa- 
thized with labor, but could not permit violence. 

So the legislation that would have brought back 
the dark ages failed to materialize ; and though labor 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 139 



acted in a very unscientific way for awhile; and 
tried to force legislation in their favor by strikes 
and other frenzied methods, we struggled through 
that dark period with less violence than any other 
nation on earth. 

For there is not the slightest doubt now in the 
mind of any thoughtful person that the "time of 
trouble" foretold in Scripture existed before and 
after the war. The war itself was the chief parox- 
ism, but it was not the only one. 

If, as one writer asserted, that all the discord and 
all the terrible convulsions of nature came as a re- 
sult of Spirit urging upon mortals its resisted 
claims, we surely can verify this from Scripture; 
for the Lord has always reminded the race that 
"Your own thoughts have brought all this evil up- 
on you." 

Since God is a moral governor, and cares for 
nothing but the spiritual growth of the race, there 
must of necessity be severe punishment for dis- 
obedience to law; and the punishment is none the 
less severe because it is the result of the trans- 
gressor's own act. 

"Reform your thoughts by my law, and grow in- 
to the same character as I have," commands the 
Maker and sustainer of men. 

"I'll think as I please, and have my own way or 
die," responds this wise and gifted human. "I'm 
a man and have personal rights, which I propose 
to assert. Your ways are out of date. This is the 
brain age and we are going to get somewhere. De- 
part from me. I will not consider your law, or the 
operation of your hands." 

So the race kept right on, as one man, having its 



140 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



own way, thinking its own thoughts, worshiping the 
work of its own hands, and landed finally in the 
dismal swamp of confusion, which they could have 
avoided if they had only been teachable. 

But the threatened overthrow of civilization did 
not cause a moment's hesitation to those in the 
world who believe in force, and always want can- 
non turned loose on anyone who disagrees with 
them seriously. 

The nations of the world went right on adding 
to their blood-guiltiness, with the firm conviction 
that God himself could find no fault with their 
methods, while all the time He was saying, "Make 
straight paths for the feet of the weak, lest they be 
turned out of the way." A command they could 
not hear on account of the reverberations of their 
own rabid speeches; for the so-called statesmen of 
earth were noted for their much speaking. 

About this time there was such peculiar action 
of the human mind, that it led men into activities 
that would not appear erratic if it proceeded from 
the "Highway;" but did not seem to fit in with 
our government at that time, for it had always been 
unpopular for government to personally supervise 
the health of the citizen. 

It seemed that during the years of the war such 
an increase of nervous energy flowed into human 
minds that inaction in certain lines was impossible, 
and the public was somewhat startled to find that 
Uncle Sam was looking after the health of babies; 
and at the same time teaching the farm wife, and 
other house wives how to can vegetables, and make 
over old clothing — in other words how to live on less 
and work harder to help supply the salary of the 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 141 



hundreds of young women college graduates who 
romped over the country in automobiles. 

It was simply mystifying that the human mind 
could think up the stunts that were to be dosed out 
to the benighted farmer and family, by these official 
reformers. They even planned a campaign to prove 
that the raising of geese was pleasant and profitable 
— very uplifting in fact — if it lowered the living 
cost to those who inhabited the cities; and felt a 
fear that if the farmer's family did not work a little 
harder they might be compelled to raise their own 
food. 

I assert that this is not exageration. I read a 
long serious article on the way to increase pro- 
ductions on the farm, in a well known periodical; 
and if the farmer had worked twenty-four hours 
every day, and had ten times the salary this hot- 
house reformer received for his remarkable brain- 
storms, he would not have been able to erect the 
building's recommend. Added to this was a scheme 
for his social hours that would have left him no 
time for thought or reading. And the literature pro- 
vided for the farmer was amazing. Now the farm- 
ing population can buy books, and read them, as 
any citizen may do ; but the periodicals printed ex- 
pressly for the farmer, in those times, held before 
his mind constantly the necessity for feeding the 
calves good nourishing food, and I even read in one 
editorial that a calf has a right to be well-born. 

You imagine that I am exaggerating, but I am 
simply stating facts ; and the only way I can account 
for this almost universal imbecility, is that the hu- 
man mind had dwelt so long on the plane of ma- 
teriality, that reason was partially dethroned. 



142 HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



These same editors who were working overtime 
to persuade people to wade into a mental mud-hole 
and stay there, were always deploring the dis- 
positions of young people to leave farm life for the 
cities, and pointed out to them why feeding calves 
was so healthful and soul-satisfying an occupation. 

I happen to know of the unending drudgery of 
farm life, for a cousin who grew up with me was a 
farmer ; and when his own children grew up he saw 
them leave for the city, because the everlasting 
chores on the farm never would stay done. But I 
started to describe the discord in our own highly 
favored lands, and the next class who lives to create 
discord is the lawyers. 

Now a lawyer does not exist to make laws, or to 
enforce law, but to make a living out of the quar- 
rels of a disordered society, and the more disordered 
the society the more lawyers it will sustain, and 
the better living they can make. It would seem 
then that lawyers would live to increase the dis- 
cord in the world, and that is their only ambition, 
and delight. An everlasting row is what they de- 
sire, and as they are frequently sent to make laws 
by a foolish people; they can help the row along, 
and draw a good salary as an office holder at the 
same time. A peacemaker is hated by this class, 
and a law that does not produce plenty of law- 
breakers, does not please them in the least. 

I could show you one provision in the constitution 
of a certain state that was placed there by lawyers, 
and for the express purpose of producing discord 
among neighbors. The words are so ambliguous 
that they are senseless, yet the population of a 
great state keep on fighting their neighbor over a 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 143 



supposed law relating to bonding districts for school 
buildings when no law really exists, but just 
simply a trap t<s make fees for lawyers. There is 
no reason in common sense why a law should not 
be expressed in such plain language that a ten year 
old boy could tell just exactly what it meant; but 
this fraud goes on because the workers train their 
muscles instead of their minds, and are easily im- 
pressed by big words. If somebody talks to them 
in terms they cannot grasp, they imagine him to be 
very learned. I considered this class was the most 
dangerous in our nation ; but under the new system 
they are disappearing rapidly. The workers of the 
world can see through their shams and the workers 
now make the laws. 

The medical men were also engaged in having 
laws passed for their benefit, and it was always a 
law to increase their fees and prestige. "Weighing 
of school children officially, and weekly examination 
of their physical conditions is some of the things 
that resulted from their political activity. 

During the war the activity of the different 
charitable and benevolent societies helped to make 
war less hellish, and saved much suffering to the 
soldiers ; but strange to say they imagined the pub- 
lic would keep right on giving to do this, that, or 
the other service, that the public is already pre- 
pared to do for its citizens when necessary. All 
these deluded people added to the confusion of our 
cities, imagining their work was essential through- 
out time. This was a very active minded class of 
people, but they had no regular orbit to rotate in 
under the old system; and so added to the general 
disorder. They were trouble makers without in- 



144 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



tending to be so, and many a row they had over an 
office or position, when these became so scarce that 
some of them had to go back to work. 

Beside these discord producers, I have mentioned 
were the political grafter — the corporation mana- 
gers — insurance companies; — the manufacturers of 
dishonest products to cheat the people — and the 
burden of humanity's transgression became so great 
that the whole head was sick and the whole heart 
faint.. There was no health in the body politic. It 
was covered with wounds, and bruises, and putre- 
fying sores. It could never be healed, for this was 
Babylon, and Babylon's doom was at hand. 

In the homes of the people there was discord. 
Divorce was increasing rapidly, crimes of all kinds 
were being doubled in number every year. Some 
of the most remarkable crimes, seemingly without 
motive, terrified all thoughtful people. We prayed 
for peace; but no peace came, until Spirit moved 
upon a man who really loved humanity; and who 
saw the only way of escape from the frightful state 
men had brought on by following their own 
thoughts. He was permitted to see the land that 
was once very far off, the "Highway of Life;" and 
other men who loved humanity understood the 
vision, and knew that the time of its fulfillment was 
at hand, because it was necessary to cure the ills 
of mankind. 

How well it has done the work is patent to all 
observers. For the Lord hath founded Zion, and 
the poor of his people are flowing into it. 

It was during this time of unrest and confusion 
when the laboring people were fighting against the 
continued supremacy of big business, that I heard 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 145 



a lecture, radical but very reasonable, which showed 
the speaker to be free from hatred against any 
class of people. After his introduction and a few 
preliminary remarks, he told us * 4 That kings 
throughout all time existed for the purpose of de- 
veloping a spirit in the mass of the people which 
in time made kings impossible. 7 ' 

The more lamblike the common herd, the more 
aggressive the kings became; until a spirit of re- 
sentment sprang up in response to it, and the peo- 
ple began to demand that the king give up some 
of his usurpations. In the struggles that took place 
between the king and nobles, the people's interests 
were not considered, for the nobles wanted some 
power while the king preferred to have it all. Kings 
therefore existed to educate the people up to that 
point where they were no longer possible; and the 
kings of finance, and captains of big industries have 
the same part to perform in our modern society. 
We could get nowhere without them, and we have 
no cause for hate or censure to those who organ- 
ized and controlled our unweildy, haphazard, fren- 
zied monetary system. It would go to pieces of its 
own accord in time, for it defies the law of God in 
all its ways, and is so abnormal that even nature 
fights against it. When a body of men, seemingly, 
have one common ambition, and still are always en- 
deavoring by underhanded methods to undo their 
fellows in the game of money-getting, we may be 
sure that they are out of harmony with nature. 

The financiers of a few decades ago appeared to 
the admiring crowd as supermen; but the story of 
their every day acts in the financial world, as told 
by one of themselves, reveal them in about the 



146 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



character we would expect a highwayman to show, 
if after being assisted by others to loot a bank, he 
saw a chance for a safe get-away that he might 
enjoy the spoils alone. 

Some of those men whose every-day business was 
to fleece widows and orphans belonged to church; 
and we have the strange spectacle of a past master 
in legal robberies, praying in a company of bishops, 
that God's Kingdom might be set up on earth; who 
at that very time was engaged in wrecking a rail- 
road and, incidentally shutting off the income of 
a number of helpless people. 

That was certainly a strange time for a few de- 
cades that included the time of war. There were 
so many various insanities in the world that no one 
mind was capable of classifying them. Men went 
directly against the teaching of Christ , and then 
imagined they were enjoying his blessing, because 
of the size of their income. They seemed to think 
the amount of their revenue and the blessing of 
God was identical. Almost the entire civilized race 
was in great mental darkness. The laboring class 
imagined they could compel the corporations to 
give them what they demanded, and did not seem 
to realize that big business had reached its colossal 
proportions by good business methods and co- 
operation, and that if they would succeed in their 
efforts they must do the same. We had come to 
a time in human history when man was beginning to 
distrust himself, and many are beginning to look 
to that mind which is the cause of the visible cre- 
ation , to see if He has given any- definite direction 
that a reasoning man can safely follow. 

Let us take the teaching of the_Son of Man, and 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 147 



see if it will lead us anywhere. "Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself." Any neighbor. Every 
neighbor. If we do this we are informed that we 
will be pleasing to God, even as Christ loved others 
and was pleasing to God. On our right, we will 
say, we have a rich neighbor who is never satisfied 
by getting. On the left we have a poor neighbor 
who never prospers, no matter how he works. The 
rich neighbor has lent the poor one money, and by 
taking too much interest and compounding it fre- 
quently, also compelling the poor one to turn over 
his crop as payment and only allowing him half 
price, he has reduced the poor man to beggary. 

Now remember I must love both neighbors. Must 
I then be neutral? Not by any means. I must see 
justice done, and if the rich brother whose mind 
is so immature that he thinks he has a right to all 
that he has taken, objects, that is because of an 
undeveloped mind. 

So with the people who do the work of the world. 
It is not Christ-like to endure the oppression of a 
selfish and disordered system, a moment longer than 
necessary to organize and walk out from under it. 
You can never outwit the masters of finance at their 
own game, for it can never be anything but heads 
I win tails you lose. 

Mankind must start a new game of their own, and 
it wont be many decades before their play will be 
played out and be heard of no more. Of course 
these pampered children of fortune will object, when 
by doing your own work you incidentally stop the 
rewards of the people's industry from flowing into 
their coffers. They have been enjoying it so long 
they imagine it is theirs. But the people never made 



148 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



any contract to support the wage system for the 
benefit of the few. What is more practical and en- 
couraging, the Lord Jehovah never made any such 
arrangement. He tells us many things along this 
line which we should know, and among other things, 
he informs us: "That it is not of the Lord of all 
the people that they labor in the fire and weary 
themselves for vanity, for the earth shall be full of 
the knowledge of the glory — or beauty of character 
— of God as the waters cover the sea." 

So the love of Christ can and must be the in- 
centive to work, first to set our rich brothers free 
from a position that keeps him in spiritual blind- 
ness; and at the same time set our poor brothers 
free from his sordid conditions, and his incessant 
labor. His soul cannot attain to what is his in- 
heritance under the benumbing effects of poverty. 
The resulting unsettled state of mind is inemical to 
mental and spiritual growth. If any think we can 
go ahead and correct everything that is out of joint 
in these days by political action, he is certainly a 
hopeful spirit. We have existed as a nation more 
than one hundred and forty years and things have 
been growing more discordant all the time. Politics 
is one everlasting row. As a trouble producer it is 
even more effective than the monetary system, for 
it includes that with all that makes for discord. We 
doubt if God could ever make the covenant of peace 
he has promised if we cannot establish an industrial- 
ism that will take the place of politics. 

From the point of view of the spiritual world 
man has deliberately marred God's work. The 
princes of that world, in John's hearing called up- 
on God to destroy those who destroyed the earth. 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 149 



Isaiah also was told that the rebelious race had 
"broken the everlasting covenant" and as a result 
the earth was absolutely defiled. It is a strange 
and peculiar state of mind, when men who know not 
the hour of their death will set up their foolish 
childish thoughts in opposition to that being who 
made heaven and earth and builds up the spirit of 
man. But this sort of insanity is still common in 
the world, though it is slowly decreasing. Since 
we did not make the earth, or give life to anyone 
in it, let us be reasonable and acknowledge that 
the mind that sustains the universe knows how he 
wishes his creatures to manage their affairs. If we 
are teachable we will receive knowledge to build 
a lasting structure. 

"Even before the world war I was almost 
weary of life. The different business interests in 
which I had a part, and which once had given me 
such keen pleasure in their supervision, had become 
an almost unbearable burden. I had no more inter- 
est in money making. But in spite of this my in- 
vestments already made increased my holdings, 
during the war, and I found myself at its close with 
more than I had ever expected to own, and with 
a feeling of deep disgust for business and all things 
connected with it. From a puritan ancestry I had 
inherited an orderly mind, and I could not endure 
moral disorders." 

1 ' I decided early in life not to read the papers that 
make so much of the doing of a crazed humanity. 
I subscribed for those only that dealt with political, 
financial, or industrial matters ; and in our home no 
scandal was ever discussed. As a matter of fact I 
was wrapped up in the robes of my egregious selfish- 



150 HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



ness ; but my wife was always human, and the woes 
and sorrows of her fellow-women was always ap- 
pealing to her sympathies. I had become tired of 
existence, and really longed to get away from life 
up to the memorable evening when we met in Judge 
Goodwin's parlor, and discussed the necessity for 
a new industrial system." 

"The confusion and turmoil in the world had 
worked upon the nerves of a life-long friend, and 
caused him to commit suicide. This was startling 
to me, for the reason that I had sometimes thought 
of self-destruction. I was frightened to that extent 
that I began the study of all the problems that 
vexed the race ; and of course I had made a study 
of the demands of working people. I could not 
understand in what way they could better them- 
selves by purely political action ; and often wonder- 
ed why they did not band themselves together in 
societies to produce the necessities for themselves." 

"I did not then have the understanding that this 
was not a purely economic question, but a spiritual 
one ; or that before industrial action, there must 
come into men's hearts a new consciousness of 
brotherhood that will make of humanity a spiritual 
family living by one law and having one ambition — 
the building of God's Kingdom. It is certainly a 
law of mind, that if we ignore our brother's strug- 
gles, caring nothing for him as a man, we will be 
compelled to bear his soul burdens at times, and 
some have even found them unbearable. I am con- 
vinced that my friend who commited suicide from 
worry over the state of the world suffered just 
that. I am also convinced that my own mental 
stress was from the same course. Just as soon as 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 151 



I began to help in building the " Highway ,' ' it all 
melted away." 

It would certainly be absolute justice for the Lord 
our Maker to so punish us for our selfishness and 
obstinacy. Christ said that just before the coming 
of His Kingdom, men's hearts should fail them for 
fear of what was coming on the earth. From ex- 
perience I can recommend to all men a remedy for 
souls that are tired and jaded by the consciousness 
of the world-thought, self-activities, and even bodily 
ailments. Go about the reconstruction of your 
consciousness scientifically. "Get you a new heart, 
and a new Spirit, by developing the mind that was 
in Christ within you." When you do this, you will 
find you belong in the " High way,' ' and there you 
will find peace in a harmonious activity that leaves 
nothing to be desired. 

At sixty years of age I was tired of life ; at eighty 
life holds more interest for me than it did at twenty. 
The reason is that a life given to self interests is 
necessarily a failure, while building the Kingdom 
of God on earth is scientific and satisfactory. This 
work of reconstructing human society is not a 
charitable work, but one of justice only. Even 
though we may use the wealth we have been in the 
habit of calling our own to forward it. 

If the world's workers made leisure, culture, and 
wealth possible to the favored class, should not 
that class repay with zeal in providing a way of 
escape from drudgery to those who have willingly 
served for so many generations ? Inventions of labor- 
saving devices has not conduced to the good of 
the laborer to any great extent, and yet, the in- 
ventors were mostly laborers. Moral sense is surely 



152 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



dulled by the prosperity of the so-called ruling 
class, when they do not cheerfully acknowledge 
the debt, and begin to pay it in the only way 
possible. 

If leisure is good, all should have some leisure. 
If the higher education conduces to enrichment of 
mind, let all share it; if banking and manufactur- 
ing are profitable, why should not all the people 
have a share in the profits? If the activities of 
producing food, clothing, and all other necessities 
of a civilized existence, are healthful for the young, 
why should not all the young of the land take part 
in them? 

All these things can be accomplished in the 
"Highway," and its activities founded on universal 
good-will, are so harmonious that there is no sense 
of drudgery or overwork, though at times the work 
is very strenuous indeed. 

As I have said, I was in an almost distracted state 
of mind. I had no more hope that political action 
would help the race to anything better; and I had 
no expectation that the church would lead into new 
conditions. I was hopeless, broken in mental and 
bodily health. I was almost an invalid, and in this 
state of mind I went to the home of Judge Good- 
win to hear what he had to say about reforming 
social and industrial conditions. I really felt no 
interest before hand, in what he might say; but 
when his interpretlation of what the Kingdom of 
Heaven really meant to man, was fully unfolded, I 
began to see a future for mankind that would cause 
them to forget all the unrequited labor, all the 
suffering, all the injustice they had suffered since 
time began. I had always been a successful money 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 153 



getter, and my war-time profits had given me quite 
a few millions that I could never imagine my family 
or I would need. Before that first meeting had 
come to an end, I knew that I should use it to found 
a co-operative society, and had almost decided its 
exact location. 

When I had once made a decision, inactive was 
impossible. So the work seemingly went forward 
of its own accord. From the very first day this 
work for others was a joy to my soul, and through 
the intervening years my interest in it has never 
flagged. 

When an inventor wishes to secure a patent of 
his invention from government, he must provide a 
working model, and in our work to build up the 
"Highway," we must show its workings in a com- 
munity where all would work according to the 
pattern. 

The wealth I had gained during the war was 
more than any man has any right to, so the financ- 
ing of the first colony was provided for. My wife 
was one with me in the work, and I gave each son 
a fortune larger than I had to begin business with. 
My sons were a disappointment to me, for the 
reason that they were rather frail of physique. I 
had affection for them, but I could easily believe 
that luxurious living, and lack of vigorous work 
would in time bring extinction to a family. My 
wife and I belonged to families that were vigorous 
of body. But mine were dutiful sons, and resigned 
all interests in the money I had accumulated, at 
my request. 

Before th^ week was out, I had purchased a large 



154 HIGHWAY OF LIFE 

acreage of somewhat rough land, which I decided 
would produce fruits and vegetable food enough for 
the colony, when the stones were cleared and used 
in a building for the large family that would soon 
be gathered there. I secured the aid of the proper 
assistants, and soon had bought a cement factory, 
tents for the workers and machinery and food sup- 
plies. My plan was to get workers who wished to 
help in building up such a system, provide for them 
while the building, clearing and planting was be- 
ing done ; and as they were building and planting 
for themselves. I paid no wages, instead they were 
to have a life membership, and be cared for in sick- 
ness and in old age, without the payment of dues. 

As soon as the food producing part of the work 
was sufficient, they were to have complete control 
of that department. The manufacturing would re- 
main in my hands, until a time that the work had 
gained such headway that it would go on of its own 
momentum. I also retained the title to the land, 
and was to have one fifth of the finished products 
to help other colonies. 

The title of the land would be held by me till 
the new system was so nearly established that no 
society could revert to the savagery of the com- 
petitive system. 

Some of the workers were quite suspicious of my 
intentions at first, but I pointed out to them that 
I was under no obligations to treat them any more 
liberally than any other working man, and that I 
must do this to assure the success of the work. 
After I had met them all, and they had been assured 
that my sons would never inherit this property, they 
seemed satisfied. Of course all were not like this 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 155 



but had instant comprehension. I was to provide 
storehouses, where they could purchase at a reason- 
able price what they could not produce. We de- 
cided that all clothing for the colony should be 
made in it. 

I prepared to build a shoe factory, where the 
members of the colony could labor when the slack 
time in farming came, and to make provision so 
that each head of family could be assured of in- 
come enough to have the reasonable comforts of 
life. We mutually agreed that nine hundred dol- 
lars a year, besides the place to live and the produce 
of the farm would be equal to more than two 
thousand a year in a city. As I had recruited from 
those who knew nothing of high wages, they were 
the more reasonable. I pledged them that all the 
profits from every business should go to set up other 
colonies on the same plan; and finally they were 
perfectly satisfied, and went jubilantly to work. 

My plans were well under way before the month 
was out, but I could not think of everything that 
would be needed in so short a time. When I related 
at the next meeting of the twelve in Mr. Goodwin's 
parlor what I had done there was much congratula- 
tion, and also help. As Mr. Aiken and I walked 
homeward together, he said to me: "I have been 
thinking of a fine plan to provide your colony with 
instructors of experience. In this age men and 
women are not kept in college much past middle 
life, I have a friend or two, people of fine attain- 
ments, mental and moral, who this year were set 
aside to make way for the younger race. The col- 
leges for the children of the rich are conducted on 
different lines than this new work. Why can you 



156 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



not give them opportunity to do the work for which 
they are so eminently fitted ?" 

I could, and I did, and soon we had a well en- 
dowed band of men and women who were an orna- 
ment to any society, and who have always been 
loyal to the 1 'High way.' ' We paid no big salaries. 
That was not the purpose of our work, and I could 
not ask the workers to pay these first instructors. 
I made arrangements that they should receive so 
much per month besides a share in the colony itself. 
By this time we had a hospital, a resident physician, 
a dentist and an occulist. 

As soon as the first building was completed and 
the work was well under way, my friend, Henry 
Barton, the captain of industry among the twelve, 
asked me if I could establish another co-operative 
community, as he had a sum of money on hand that 
was causing him loss of sleep. 

"I certainly can" I replied, "for I am swamped 
with requests for membership in an already full 
institution. I will use it in your name, and you can 
hold the title through life, as I am doing to stable- 
ize it. Not having children you can readily promise 
that they shall inherit it." 

"I believe I would rather have the society hold 
it in trust," he returned, "if you don't take charge 
of it personally. I have all I can see to in the 
works." 

So another settlement was begun in West Vir- 
ginia. There was no lack of willing workers to 
carry it forward. 

By this time we had a live paper, published in 
the first colony, and edited by the faculty. It had 
a large subscription list that was increasing rapidly, 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 157 



such an interest was there all over the earth in this 
new sort of reform work. 

Before the first year was out I was startled by 
the offer of funds for financing the building of the 
*' High way.' 9 That large class of people in the cities 
who receive salaries larger than needed for im- 
mediate use, in the past have nearly all, at times, 
made ventures into the stock markets and usually 
lost their holdings. The stock markets are a " heads 
I win, tails you lose" sort of game, and are not con- 
ducted according to the laws of business ethics. 
They are in fact gambling places as detrimental to 
a people as a lottery or the national game of base- 
ball which has shown itself very base indeed as a 
destroyer of character. Those on the inside, in this 
game of the stock market, were merrily engaged 
in shoveling the savings of others into their own 
strong boxes. It was a merry-go-round sort of play 
to them, and they imagined it would last forever. 
There were constantly new victims, and they all 
seemed so willing to hand over their dollars to the 
gamesters. Those were crude times indeed, and 
are better forgotten; but if any curious person 
wishes to know about the way of deceit practiced 
let him read the tale of "Frienzied Finance " by 
one of them. 

But I digress. When the world was informed of 
the actual beginning of the new system, and we 
could show them a working model, I was surprised 
by the generous offers of funds from this class of 
men who were coming to their senses. They offered 
to loan me the money on my personal note at 
reasonable rate of interest, and invariably expressed 



158 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



a desire to come themselves into the work at some 
future time. 

This was very encouraging and slightly perplex- 
ing; but the perplexity arose from the bigness of 
the work on hand. "When I consulted the rest of 
the board they were delighted with the prospect. 
All being convinced tha tthe work was really the 
work of God. It was but natural that men should 
" bring their silver and their gold into it." So we 
had another department added, and began to receive 
loans of various sizes to forward the work. 

We soon realized that we must prepare an ever 
increasing band of organizers, for our own land as 
well as others. We were receiving constant appeals 
for helpers. So we decided to build a colony in 
the middle west, that would house the governing 
board, and our large numbers of assistants. Also 
to include a training college for organizers. That 
need was soon provided for, and we all became 
members of one household that was like a large and 
well equipped hotel, yet very home-like to us all. 

Now the work is going on in all the nations of 
earth, and insanities and crime, which is also in- 
sanity, induced by the ways of Babylon, are disap- 
pearing like mists before the sun. In every nation 
there is still a skeleton of the old form of govern- 
ment, but it dont have much to do. Of course there 
is some business in all lands carried on in the old 
way, but it is growing less year by year. 

Usually when a great manufacturer dies, his 
family betake themselves to the "Highway;" bring- 
ing their spoils with them, for life in the "High- 
way" is safe and happy, and all the crimes com- 
mitted are on the outside of it. The courts are be- 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 159 



ing disbanded for want of cases. The jails are 
empty; there is no unemployment. The nations are 
not buildings warships of any type; but there are 
many more ships on the sea than ever before. War 
madness is a thing of the past ; and the erstwhile 
soldier is learning the delightful activities of the 
"Highway;" for the majority in every nation is 
now walking in the path of peace, and there will 
be no turning back. 

The farmers are those who could and would hold 
out longer in their opposition to being absorbed by 
the "Highway;" but they have come in fast enough 
to provide the different colonies with land, without 
the necessities of purchasing it outright. When a 
farmer on a poor farm, who could just keep even 
from year to year, learned our methods he was very 
apt to be interested. 

We had colonies already in working order, and 
we would exchange a membership therein where he 
would work less, and live better, besides having a 
small surplus for his farm. Having this acquired 
a number in one locality, we put men to work at 
them who had no capital but their labor; and soon 
another colony sprang up fully equipped. 

It was our purpose to equalize conditions as much 
as possible, and to make up for any differences, we 
sometimes gave the colony with the poorer land a 
better factory. The surplus products of all the 
factories were distributed where needed through our 
store houses. The income from sale of these pro- 
ducts was used to build and equip the new factories, 
as fast as community homes were formed. 

I must explain that the colonies make nearly all 
the shoes used in the nation ; and a large portion 



160 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



of textile goods. We also make clothing in excess 
of what we need in every one of our homes. 
Numerous factories have been added to our list by 
competition. When a small factory owner learned 
that he could not keep afloat he naturally turned 
to us. We took him in, and invariably made him 
manager; and never found it necessary to be nig- 
gardly. The understanding in each case being that 
his children should be full working members. 

In this way we got many thousands of capital, 
and many efficient workers; and I never knew a 
<?ase that caused discord — so greatly grew the work 
of God and prospered. We cultivate the good-will 
of all classes, especially of the farmers, and though 
many of them still hold aloof, we are sure of them 
in the end. The young people are as eager to join 
us, as we are to have them become members. 

This is only a question of time and we can wait. 
All the strain and stress is gone from the human 
mind. There is no more discord between parents 
and children in the ' 'High way.' ' There is none be- 
tween man and man for the cause of discord was 
the world consciousness, and the unnatural and 
cruel suspense. That animal consciousness has been 
cast out by the consciousness of the spiritual thought. 
It can never return for the very law of our societies 
is against it- Humanity is free from bondage and 
fear. The natural sorrow caused by death will ere 
long be overcome for such is the promise of our 
leader. 

We never neglected our privileges as citizens, but 
always voted for the man for executive we knew 
was most friendly toward us. But long ago oppo- 
sition ceased because it was futile. The present 



FINANCING THE HIGHWAY 161 



executive is our own choice, but there will not be 
many more elected on the old constitution. In some 
of the states the government has been displaced by 
the "Highway." There is no need for the hundreds 
of law makers, lawyers and officials that once had 
charge of public affairs, and passed a lot of laws to 
be repealed at the next sitting of the legislative 
body to prove to their constituents that their services 
could not be dispensed with. 

Now every community governs itself, and dis- 
ciplines any refractory member, not waiting for 
them to become criminals. We have in certain states 
no tax to pay to keep up the official class. When 
the roads need repair we go out and mend them: 
usually having the help of the farmers. 

We, the people in the "Highway" have a rather 
large national debt to wipe out yet, the government 
bonds being held by a number of astute gentlemen 
who traded for them when they saw that the "High- 
way" was under-mining their holdings. On these 
we are paying big interest, but it won't be for long. 
Some of these men have offspring already in the 
" Highway," and are pledged to hand over the se- 
curities as soon as inherited. Others have no off- 
spring, and so when they die their estate will revert 
to the government. By that time we will be in a 
position to wipe out all debts and there never will 
be any more. 

As the great corporations grew to their greatness 
by degrees, so we are dismantling them gradually in 
our progress. They were necessary in their day as 
object lessons for the people to study. They served 
for a time, and now being replaced by something 
infinitely better, they can be dispensed with. 



A NEW REFORMATION 



IN the war, a new malady appeared for the first 
time in human history, known as shell-shock. 
It was caused by the awful strain of trench life, the 
terrific explosions and the frightfulness of modern 
warfare. In many cases the patient received no 
physical injury, the effect being purely mental. 
Sometimes there is continued stupor; the soldier in 
such case seeming to go again through the experi- 
ences that brought on the stupor. This was shown 
by their terrified expression; sometimes even leap- 
ing from their beds and crying out in fear; and 
covered with profuse perspiration from the dream 
of terror which caused them to think they were be- 
ing pursued by the enemy. Blindness, and deafness, 
together with cramps, paralysis, contraction of 
muscles, tremors of the entire body, headache, in- 
somnia, and a long train of purely mental symptoms : 
imagining they were blind, insane or going insane, 
- together with a host of other hallucinations. 

When shell-shock first began to affect the soldiers, 
physicians concluded it was caused by lesions and 
rupture of the nerve tissue ; but study of the cases, 
and experiments in treatment, finally lead to the 
conclusion that the injury was mental and they 
found that though sleep and rest conduced to re- 
covery, yet the real remedy for these unhappy states 
was mental. In other words they practiced mind 



A NEW REFORMATION 163 



healing. But I will quote the words of an expert 
writer on the subject: 

"An idea, an image, a thought held in mind, can 
instantly make a man strong or weak, according to 
the nature of that idea, image, or thought. Human 
beings have dropped dead from reading a telegram. 
Hazing in colleges has sometimes turned into trage- 
dies, from the fear aroused in the mind of the 
victim. ' ' 

"Strong emotions of fear, hate, anger, or grief 
will sometimes throw people who are acted on by 
them into fevers, or other manifestations of physical 
disorders. Nursing infants have died because their 
mothers have been the victims of jealousy or anger." 

"If modern psychology has proved anything/' 
says the writer, "it has proved the influence of the 
mind over the body. It has shown us of late years 
hysteria, psychasthemia, and neurasthemia are due 
to fears and emotions in the mind, though they may 
never appear on the surface in any form but the 
diseases mentioned. They exist in the mind only; 
yet this disordered mentality affects the physical 
heath." 

Dr. Lannon has shown us in his valuable book, 
"Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage," 
to what extent the emotions affect the body, so that 
one might say there was no limit to this influence 
for evil and perhaps for good." 

"Hypnotism as a curative agent in mental dis- 
orders had before been shown to be of great im- 
portance, and it was now applied to the sufferer 
from shell-shock with very satisfactory results." 

"The patient is seated," continues the writer, "in 
a chair, and is brought by the operator into a slight 



164 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



degree of hypnosis in the ordinary way. He is told 
to fix in his mind the thought that he can, and will 
be cured; and hold that in mind. He is told that he 
is not insane, that his sight and hearing will become 
normal, that all physical disorders will disappear 
and he will be fully healed." 

"In some cases one treatment is enough, while 
others require more. In nearly all cases great im- 
provement, if not complete cure, usually follows." 

' ' Sympathy, understanding, and hope, may be said 
to be the three graces required of the attendant in 
cases of shell-shock." 

All this sounds as though the human race would 
finally be led to see plainly that every physical 
manifestation of disease has a moral or spiritual 
cause, and that the remedy must therefore be moral 
and spiritual. When the Lord God told mankind 
in many ways that their own disordered thought was 
the cause of sickness, famine, pestilence, disorder 
of every kind, even of death, he certainly knew what 
he was talking about. Having created the spirit, or 
mind of man within him he knew that kind of 
thought which would conduce to peace, health and 
growth, of the soul faculties. He itirated and re- 
iterated that man's only hope was in turning his 
thought into harmony with God's thought, so that 
life might continuously and harmoniously flow into 
his soul. 

When Christ laid his hands on the sick and healed 
their physical ills, He enlightened them as to the 
cause of disease. "Sin no more lest worse things 
come upon thee." was His kindly advice. God Him- 
self could not heal a creature who would not turn 
from evil, and we may say to make the truth appear 



A NEW REFORMATION 165 



stronger that God could not hinder one from being 
healed who was determined to order their thoughts 
aright. 

The fact is that all outward and visible diseases, 
whether individual or national, are evidences of soul 
maladies, brought on by man declining to come up 
out of the miasmatic swamps of the world-thought 
and walk on the spiritual plane which alone is man- 
hood. 

Being created for the very purpose of becoming 
God-like — of growing into the same character as 
that of Christ, thinking the same thoughts — how 
can man escape the multitudinous ills that finally 
end in physical extinction? How can man escape 
being an animal if he remains on the animal plane 
of thought? There is no neutral ground. Either 
go forward or suffer. God would be a very poor 
moral governor if after announcing the law by which 
the universe was governed he should remit the 
penalty attached to disobedience. God forgives sin 
— when the sin is given up and the thought — the 
animal thought that led to it, is overcome by the 
building up in the mind of God's kind of thought. 
And this is the only way by which man can over- 
come the forces of evil. When Christ healed disease 
of mind or body He first cast out the strong man of 
the death-dealing world-thought. He did that by 
the mighty power of his own perfect mind. Mind, 
which is perfected thought force, created man; and 
can restore the faculties of the soul to harmony, 
when it has brought itself to the verge of mental and 
moral ruin by its wrong thinking. When the world- 
thought is cast out, the eternal Spirit of God — that 
is everywhere present and constantly reasoning with 



166 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



man to give up evil and seek good — flows in and 
brings harmony to mind and body. And when Christ 
reproved His followers, calling them, 4 'faithless/' 
because they failed to heal a demented boy , he 
showed plainly that the power to do such works was 
inherent in man and they needed only to earnestly 
cultivate this power in accordance with God's law 
of mind. 

Hate, anger, and impure thoughts are hindrance 
to any work of God. The only state that would en- 
able anyone to be a conductor of God's love to others 
is that of universal love and good- will. "If ye love 
all others ye shall have whatever ye ask" is a scien- 
tific statement. To love, we need sympathy with 
man's needs, understanding of God's character and 
purpose, and hope, without which the race will see 
no good. The spirit of power, love, and a sound 
mind, which Paul declares was received by the fol- 
lowers of Christ, is ever ready to act upon men or 
through them. What a strange thing it is that hu- 
manity by their hate and selfishness can hinder the 
creative Spirit from doing the work that he delights 
in. Christ said it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the 
flesh profiteth nothing. If he had said you are 
healed only by the Divine Mind acting on your mind 
and setting you free from evil he would have meant 
the same thing. 

The evil thoughts in the hearts of men causes sick- 
ness. The only relief from sickness is the action of 
Divine Mind, but men are often recovered from dis- 
ease of body and mind by ministrations of a phy- 
sician who does not believe that mind has any in- 
fluence over the body. If we understand that this 
power of overcoming evil is inherent in all minds, 



A NEW K - FORMATION 167 



"whether they understand or not, the action takes 
place. The use of means is not unscientific to the 
natural plane of thought. God put the qualities in 
each herb of the field. Food sustains the animal 
organism as long as the Mind of God desires it to 
do so. It is lawful to use every means in our power 
to better the physical condition, but we should never 
lose sight of the truth that the mind needs the 
knowledge of God to reach perfection, and we are 
here for that very purpose. 

From reading of the work for good done by those 
who ministered to the sufferers from shell-shock and 
of work for the insane, led a number of the good 
men who walked in the 4 'Highway" to conclude that 
the same law of Divine Mind would apply to moral 
perverts, and that large class of people, who, while 
not criminal in the eyes of the law, are so criminally 
irritable that their families have much to endure. 

The cause of all insanity, they reasoned, is the 
world-thought. Now the insane are not greater of- 
fenders and therefore punished more. They are 
victims of forces they do not understand. To be 
sure they have ignored the call of Spirit to strive 
to attain to the higher plane of thought, and the 
world has reacted on them in such a way they be- 
came helpless mentally. These earnest men reasoned 
that Christ had commissioned every man that could 
understand the call to wage this holy warfare ; first 
for himself, and then for others, and urged by their 
intense sympathy for others in all stages of spiritual 
sickness, they prepared themselves carefully for the 
work. The human race presents every phase and 
degree of moral turpitude and mental unsoundness. 
No man needs to be told he is a transgressor, the 



168 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



unrest of the soul informs each one how far he is 
from harmony with the Divine Mind. If there were 
those who committed no perverted thought yet failed 
to love all humanity as God loves humanity that man 
would still be a transgressor of divine law; for unto 
this high estate is man called. Any lesser attain- 
ment than the perfect mind of Christ is degeneracy. 

At first we sought none of this unfortunate class 
for membership, as we felt we must have a large 
membership of well ordered characters before we 
brought in any erratic ones; but the time arrived 
when there were so many men of good mental at- 
tainments and high character who felt an earnest 
desire to help the helpless ones, that the work could 
not be longer delayed. 

Each worker chose his own subject; some one he 
had known before he came into the " Highway' ' or 
of whose unhappy disposition he had heard through 
others. Each was careful to choose some one for 
whom he had intense sympathy, and so the work 
began. The subjects of these experiments under- 
stood the object in view, and of course gave their 
hearty assent, for they desired to fit themselves for 
citizenship in the "Highway." Of course this work 
was carried on under the most favorable conditions, 
and every means was used to bring them up the 
highest physical condition. They had light work for 
a few hours each day; but the object of their heal- 
ing was not lost sight of. They had the use of all 
the different kinds of baths ; the use of the new Light 
treatment that has been brought to perfection in 
the " Highway," and of music. Music as a means 
of harmonizing disordered nerves was used in very 
early times; and the Scripture relates how the 



A- NEW REFORMATION 



shepherd-warrior, David, played on his harp before 
king Saul for that purpose, but not with satisfactory 
results. On another occasion when an idolatrious 
king of Israel called on Elisha to help him out of a 
dilemma, the prophet sarcastically told him to get 
him to the prophets of his idolatrous father and 
mother; adding other remarks which showed him 
to be very discordant indeed. He was finally per- 
suaded, however, to seek help from Divine Mind 
and called for a musician. ' 'And it came to pass when 
the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came up- 
on Elisha. " He had been so out of harmony with 
this idol serving king of Israel that he could receive 
no message from the Mind that is harmony, until 
his faculties were soothed by music; when he told 
the assembled kings how God would deliver them 
by sending a supply of water. 

In our modern time music was again being used 
for the treatment of physical and nervous diseases 
and of insanity. In our 11 Highway" these remedial 
agents were already brought to that stage that 
nothing more seemed needed to make them perfect 
and so those who thus consecrated themselves to de- 
velop their God-given faculty of healing had the use 
of all these things to help forward the work. 

Christ said if his followers would abide in his 
thought by loving all others continuously they might 
have whatever they should ask for. Now if any 
human being had ever loved as Christ loved in the 
intervening centuries since Christ was here, they 
would have done the same works. Good mothers, 
it is true, and good women generally, who pray for 
the restoration to sanity of some loved one, morally 
blind, have seen them restored to reason, times with- 



170 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



out number. But the Christian church has not given 
much time or thought to any particular case of 
one mentally or morally perverted. Indeed the world 
is just waking up to the knowledge that insanity is 
an evidence of retarded spiritual development, and 
the means used for healing must be to awaken the 
spiritual faculties. 

As I have said every curative agent known to 
man-kind was made use of in this work, but the 
man's mind was the channel through which the 
stream of life must flow and so these new disciples 
of Christ began their work by impressing on their 
patients that the consciousness built up by the 
world-thought caused discord in their lives, and in 
their faculties. That the consciousness that is nor- 
mal to man, which brings health to the body, peace 
and vigor to the intellect, is the consciousness built 
up by the thought of Divine Mind. That to have 
this energy flow to us continuously we must think 
the thoughts that are normal to the mind of Christ. 
Now we know what His thoughts were occupied 
with, and that He loved all men, because He knew 
they had within them the faculties that, in due time, 
would develop into the spiritual character. This is 
the reason we are commanded to love all mankind, 
and this love is manifested in an ardent desire to 
see the human family make spiritual growth. If 
men acted according to the mind of Spirit, all would 
be lovable ; but we must love them in any and every 
stage. They were taught that good alone is natural 
and scientific; that wrong doing of any kind was 
abnormal, and this was shown by the fact that an 
evil life never leads to anything good or great. Evil 
habits never conduce to health, happiness, or long 



A NEW REFORMATION 171 

life, and is always destructive. Good thoughts and 
conduct alone are constructive. That this is true 
has been conclusively proved by the work of build- 
ing up the "Highway." No one could deny the 
motive of the builders, and the good health and 
happiness of all the population prove that the culti- 
vation of love and good-will toward all others have 
an immediate effect for the betterment of those who 
so order their thoughts. 

Our nervous patients are taught that the thoughts 
they entertain decide their physical and mental 
health, as well as their moral status. They are 
carefully instructed in the sciences, good literature 
is brought to their knowledge ; and under the leader- 
ship of their tutors they begin to see the beauty and 
order of God's creation; and to desire that beauty 
and order in their own lives. 

While they thus exercised, reason and willed to 
become better men, the Spirit of eternal good built 
up the spirit within them of their own improved 
thoughts. So does God, the Spirit, create the spirit 
of man within him. Thus their restoration to mental 
health and happiness was brought about naturally, 
for health and happiness are natural to Spirit. All 
man's woes and sickness result from debased think- 
ing. Keeping the mind constantly employed with 
material things is in itself degeneracy. Reason alone 
would teach us this if we allowed reason to guide 
us, for true reason is the voice of God in the soul. 
The gratitude of these men for being restored to a 
peaceful, harmonious state led many of them to 
begin the same kind of work for others. 

This work of inducing a new consciousness in dis- 
ordered minds, is now being applied successfully in 



172 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



the cure of the insane. All the other means of cure 
are used in connection with their healing also, but 
the work the healers must do here, where words are 
of no avail, is to induce their own state of conscious- 
ness in the mind of the patient, and hold it there 
while it does its healing work. We have now learned 
that this is a law of Divine Mind and that Christ 
did His works by this law. We have learned that 
throughout all time, when any man influenced an- 
other man it was by this law of thought transfer- 
ence, whether the result was good or bad. The 
teacher in turning others to right-thinking actually 
induces his own consciousness on the learner and 
this right consciousness drives out the discordant 
state caused by the world-thought and the subject 
is healed. 

This healing is sometimes slow, for the healer 
often needs some work done in his own soul, and 
sometimes finds out just what he lacks himself, when 
he tries to show others the light. ' 4 Freely as ye 
have received so freely shall ye give/ ' is the law, 
however, and we must begin to give so that we may 
receive more. 

That such gifts of the Spirit of life should flow 
from the divine source of life to men when they 
bring their lives into harmony with that Spirit seems 
very reasonable, for if God is our Father, and the 
source of all intelligence, it is only reasonable to 
believe that he will bestow that intelligence on his 
obedient children. 

That men must really work for these gifts as 
though they were really obtainable in no other way 
is apparent. When his followers asked their master, 
perhaps with shame, why they could not heal a 



A NEW REFORMATION 173 



certain demented boy lie said: "This evil goeth not 
forth but by prayer and fasting/' Showing that 
some kinds of evil were harder to eradicate than 
others, and required more careful preparation of 
their own mind. That these gifts of the Spirit 
should be attained by many at the time his visible 
Kingdom is established on earth is taught in Scrip- 
ture. 

That the power to benefit others to some extent 
is inherent in all men is evident. But this is a 
faculty or gift that must be developed, according 
to the law of mind, made known in God's Word. 

The possibility of bringing the race up to the 
high estate of the sons of God, is now becoming ap- 
parent to many, and men are waking up to their 
high privilege of being co-workers with God. Paul 
understood this and said: "We are God's workman- 
ship created unto good works, which God has or- 
dained for us. In other words, that we should help 
extend the work God is doing on the earth in bring- 
ing men to understand his character. 

This is the greater work that Christ said his fol- 
lowers should do, when the proper time arrived. 
That time is now and the sons of men are being set 
free from the world-thought and its death-dealing 
effects, and then they in turn use their increased 
mental power to bring others into the path of life. 
The reign of the heavens is at hand, in a new and 
nobler sense, than when Christ proclaimed his mes- 
sage in Gallile and Judah. And the Spirit of divine 
intelligence which he bestowed on his followers, hav- 
ing leavened the whole body of the race, is now bear- 
ing its proper fruit in bringing it into harmonious 
relationship with the spiritual world, and among 



174 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



themselves.. The friendship, love, and truth, de- 
veloped by this Spirit in the hearts of men, is filling 
the earth with the glory of God. When the work 
is fully done not one soul will be left outside of the 
light and warmth of the "Highway of Life." 



CHARACTER BUILDING 

BY THOUGHT INDUCTION 



THE LAW OP DIVINE MIND 



The Spirit's Method of Creating" the Spirit of Man 
Within Him. 



HE questions are often asked : What does man 



I need to overcome? "What does he need to be 
saved from? What is God's controversy with man? 
How can man and God become harmonious? 

We find by a careful study of the Scripture that 
the Lord said, "The thoughts of man's heart is evil 
continually:" "Pray that the thoughts of thine 
heart may be forgiven thee:" "0 Jerusalem, wash 
thine heart from wickedness ; how long shall vain 
thoughts lodge within thee?" These sayings from 
the Lord explain God's controversy with men. The 
Lord created man to grow into a spiritual being, 
man prefers to remain on the animal plane by think- 
ing the world-thought. 

God desires that man reform his mind by the 
Divine thought, and man wishes to remain where 
he is, so man must first see that the character of God 
as revealed in Christ is a desirable character before 
he can choose it. He must will to do the will of 
God , and the will of God is that he understand the 
divine character. 




176 HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



4 'For he desires mercy and not sacrifice, and the 
knowledge of God more than burnt offering." 

How then can man attain to a knowledge of God? 

When he has attained the knowledge how will it 
have power to change him in to the Christ-likeness? 
We understand any character only when we know 
their thought. God is constantly calling upon man 
to learn what is the difference between the Divine 
thought and his own, and commands him to try each 
thought and know its character before he allows 
it to move him. 1 'For my thoughts are not your 
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways saith the 
Lord; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
thoughts higher than your thoughts. " 

Man, to be pleasing to God, must, therefore, learn 
the Thought of God in all things and must not only 
know them theoretically, but must think the thoughts 
that God is thinking, and occupy himself with the 
Thoughts of God exclusively, if he would receive 
the power that Christ promised him. 

Man wants to be "saved" in his own way. He 
wishes to exalt the world-thought, live according to 
it, and go to heaven when he dies. Christ came to 
give men life, and the Thought of God is life. He 
came, therefore, to show men the path of right- 
thinking, and by overcoming all the world-thought 
he is the way of life to all who will be led in thought. 
That the Divine Mind transfers his character to his 
creatures by inducing his own thought in their 
minds, is plainly taught in Scripture. "I, the Lord 
create the Spirit." "The words I speak are Spirit." 
That man has a very important part in bringing 
himself unto harmony with God's Thought is ap- 



CHARACTER BUILDING 177 

parent. Christ says he must take up the cross daily 
and follow him. Our thought is at cross purposes 
with the Thought of God. Our daily cross is to 
strive to bring our thoughts into harmony with the 
Divine. 

The world-thought is a burrier to the action of 
Spirit. We can follow Christ only by thinking His 
Thought. As fast as man does his part the Divine 
Spirit — eager to bring all minds under his law — 
builds up the man's character within him from this 
thought substance which man himself has chosen; 
and he is thus changed in character, and becomes 
like Christ. And when the man has reached a cer- 
tain stage of development he desires other souls to 
be brought into this harmony with God. As he at- 
tains to more of God's Thought he acts upon others 
by this same law of mind, and becomes a co-worker 
with God in bringing earth under the law of Spirit. 

No man liveth to himself. No man is transformed 
into the Christ character for any private good, or 
satisfaction to himself. No man is insured a private 
heaven. It is in order to extend the reign of Spirit 
that any soul is led of that Spirit. If he is not will- 
ing to give as freely as he received there is no 
evidence that he has received any of the Spirit. 

This law of Spirit — or thought transference — is 
the divine way of bringing men from the plane of 
animal, or world-thought, to the Kingdom of God- 
thought. It is the same law that governs the action 
of one human mind on another. The quality of 
thought decides character. God-Thought is God- 
likeness. There is no other way of escape from the 
world-thought that causes sickness, insanity, and 
death. 



178 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



There is no other means of attaining the Spirit's 
power but to bring every thought of your heart 
into harmony with the Divine Thought. Think 
the Thoughts of God and the Spirit, by its law of 
action, will make those thoughts effecting, and you 
will, by turning others to right-thinking, become 
a co-worker with God. 

This is what man was created for: To grow into 
the Divine character by thinking the Thought of 
God, that he may learn to work the works of God. 
Christ prayed that those who believed might become 
one with Him and the Father. He was one with 
the Father, because he knew the Divine Thought. 
He obeyed the Law of Spirit perfectly, and thus 
became a perfect conductor by which the Thought of 
God could flow to other minds. 

There are many examples of this law of thought 
transference in the Bible. 

When the Lord directed Moses to choose seventy 
of the elders of Israel to help in governing, and 
said he would transfer the Spirit that was in Moses 
to them, it was by this law of thought-induction 
he worked. Moses was the medium by which the 
Lord transferred his Thought. Moses said the re- 
sult was a manifestation of God's Spirit. God said 
it was Moses' Spirit. The Divine Thought had been 
so built up in Moses, that he could act as a con- 
ductor of the Life of God to other souls. 

This is going on around us all the time. Wherever 
there is right-thought there is the Spirit of God at 
work to extend the boundaries of his reign. It is 
impossible for us even to imagine to what power 
the race would have attained, had the law of right- 
thought of God been obeyed by man; but we are 



CHARACTER BUILDING 179 



informed by the Divine Mind that there is to be 
a time of restitution, and the children of God will 
be rewarded for every effort they have made toward 
right-thought, even though that effort seemed 
failure. 

In the fulness of time Christ came to save his 
people from the effect of wrong thinking by thought 
induction. John saw a great multitude, who by this 
law of mind had " washed their robes in the 'Life' 
of the lamb;" for they overcame evil by that life, 
and the testimony, or thought, which had been built 
up by the law of thought induction. This is how 
we are saved by the blood (Life) of Christ. His 
kind of thought gives His kind of life and so we 
are truly saved by faith in the Son of God, who is 
still working to develop more and more of the Divine 
in man by that Divine method of building up souls 
— even thought induction. 

When the Spirit that was in Elijah flowed to 
Elisha we see another manifestation of this law of 
Love; and when Christ endowed first the twelve, 
then the seventy, and last, at pentecost, sent the 
promise of his Father to the ones prepared for the 
gift, we have a better opportunity to study the 
meaning of what the Spirit proposes to do for men. 

The time for these great refreshings to man is not 
passed. Greater things are to be accomplished in 
the world than have been done, and the same Spirit 
is to do the work, for there is no other power. He 
will work by the same law of mind to build up God- 
likeness in men ; but men can now work intelligently 
with God to further his own, and the general ad- 
vancement. He is beginning to see what the Lord 



180 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



is doing, and to know the law by which he is 
working. 

The Divine Thought is the eternal creative Spirit 
of Energy that fills all space ; and includes all the 
lesser activities of the universe. It is the adhesive 
power in all the elements. It is the magnetism that 
holds all suns in space. It is the life of metal, plant, 
animal and soul. "He holdeth our souls in life," 
and there is no element in nature that has not some 
of the characteristics of that Spirit. It is the pres- 
ence and beneficent action of that Spirit that causes 
food to nourish our bodies. It is the presence of 
the same Spirit that makes plants, herbs and chemi- 
cal preparations effictious in restoring health. It is 
the presence of Spirit that causes water to renew 
our life when we are ready to perish with thirst, 
for the creative Spirit is there, and all water is the 
water of life. 

We cannot think to ourselves. Our thoughts are 
flowing out to form, or deform — according to their 
character — our own and other souls. As wrong 
thought can cause disease in the body of the thinker ; 
and as thoughts and the effects of thought are trans- 
ferable, we can communicate sickness to other 
organisms and no doubt cause death by our erronious 
thought. On the other hand, the thought of man in 
harmony with God's Thought assists in building up 
health and life and maintaining that spiritual poise 
of mind known as sanity. For insanity is spiritual 
disorder. It is the outward and visible evidence of 
man's disregard of God's thought. 

It is, indeed, the evil thought of the race for all 
past time taking possession of the mind that has no 
safeguard against it, by this law of mental action, 



CHARACTER BUILDING 181 



thought induction. The disordered soul is a victim 
not only of its own disregard of right-thought, but 
of the actual disobedience of other minds. 

The plasma of disordered human thought is a sea 
in which the whole race is floundering. Some have 
come up out of it and are walking on it, but are 
still held to its level. Others are partly out. Many 
have just begun to come up out of it. But the ma- 
jority of the race is so submerged that the sun of 
right-thinking cannot shine into their souls. But 
God has promised that this vail — spreading over all 
nations — shall be taken away, and men set free from 
the influence of all the wrong thought of the past 
ages. Heredity will then lose its power, and each 
soul being free to think right — will help usher in 
the beginning of that time when Satan shall be 
bound, and have no power to deceive the nations. 

Every soul has within it the faculties which when 
developed will grow into the beauty and power of 
the Christ-character. But we are members one of 
another. We are bound together by the laws of 
Mind. No soul can get very far in advance of its 
fellows. Israel caused Moses to sin. Christ charged 
the pharisees with hindering souls from entering the 
Kingdom of Heaven. They could only do this by 
transferred thought. So we see that the Lord who 
understands all souls does not hold the individual 
wholly responsible for his wrong-thinking. Christ 
treated the sufferers from wrong thought action as 
victims. He had no word of censure for any save 
those who claimed they understood God but did not, 
and taught men wrong. But on his cross he prayed 
that even these might be forgiven, because wrong 
thought had blinded them. 



182 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



This is the reason we are to think thoughts of 
good to all wrong-doers — They are so blinded by 
self -thought, by desire for the things of this world, 
that they can not see things in their right relations. 
Did they "know the Thoughts of God or under- 
stand his counsel they would not even feel tempted 
to do a wrong act. If men did no wrong acts we 
would consider them all right, and in no need of 
being renewed in their minds. 

We must realize that man is captive, bound hand 
and foot, shut up in the prison house of the senses, 
and covered mountain high by the weight of the 
world-thought, that hinders the spirit of right- 
thought from entering to set him free. 

Though he may seem intelligent on the plane on 
which he lives he is dead to the spiritual kingdom, 
knows none of its laws, thinks none of its thoughts. 
He may have a standard of right conduct, and re- 
frain from the grosser acts of wickedness, but to 
enter the Kingdom of Christ demands more than 
the mere absence of criminality. It demands more 
than the highest standard of the world's code. It 
demands that we bring every thought into harmony 
with the Divine thought. And we are not even to 
stop there, but go forward using our thought-force 
to build up right thought in others. We are to re- 
prove, rebuke, exhort with the audible voice ; and 
then to pour out our soul to satisfy the afflicted 
soul, and help it into the path of peace. 

Who knows how to think aright? 

The Lord who gave us the spirit of life. The 
mind who understands all the law, because he is 
the law. He alone can know the purpose for which 
man was created, and the law of thought induction 



CHARACTER BUILDING 



183 



by which man can realize his spiritual inheritance. 
He knows also the condition that man must fulfill 
that the spirit of life may flow to him. 

This is the condition: Learn the Thoughts of 
God, and begin to practice them for the regeneration 
of other souls, so that the inflow of the Divine Life 
may be harmonious and continuous. 

This might be worded in this way: Begin and 
think as God thinks, and you will do the works of 
God ; for the universal, ever-present Spirit that con- 
trols thought-induction in building up character, 
will let no right thought fall to the ground. 

If a man cheats you, what is God's command to 
you? Forgive him. lSend him thoughts of kind- 
ness. Pray that the spirit of right-thought may 
come to him, and change his character so that he 
may be pleasing to God. If he wrongs you in any 
of the various ways in which one soul can vex and 
annoy another, what should be the attitude of your 
thoughts? It does not take long to find out if we 
search the Scriptures. If it is hard to forgive it 
only proves that we are not continually thinking 
the Thoughts of God, and we need to be more alert. 

It is the same in the case of those who may not 
have actively injured us, but who are distasteful to 
us in any way. 

Why are they distasteful? 

Because they have not the spirit of right-thought. 
It then becomes our privilege to induce the thought 
in them, and by this right mental action advance 
further into our inheritance, for the law of this 
Kingdom is " Freely as ye have received so must 
you give.' 7 As ye have nothing but what ye have 
received from the Divine Mind, you must be zealous 



184 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



in communicating. "For if ye love God" ye will 
long to see men brought into His Kingdom of right- 
thought, and it can only be done by right-thought 
on your part. 

Thus we may learn to apply the right-thought of 
God to every event of our lives, to every person we 
meet, to all the various affairs of men, and as this 
seed-thought finds lodgment in honest hearts, it will 
bring forth abundant fruit, that shall result in the 
building up of the city of right thought that is 
coming down from God out of heaven. 

So an understanding of the law of mind, as taught 
in Scripture, will enable us to forgive our neighbor, 
when his acts are prompted by the world thought 
alone. The world thought is hateful, it is vicious, 
it is selfish, it is bestial. The victims of world- 
thought are in a pitiable spiritual condition, and 
though they might control much of visible wealth 
they have no hope and no promise until they are 
brought out of thralldom. 

The spirit of right-thought is absent. Let us see 
that we overcome our own nature by thinking the 
Thought of God toward such an one, and use our 
own mental force to bring some light into his 
darkened and dying faculties, and thus gain more 
spiritual power. 

No matter in what way another soul distresses or 
oppresses us, we can meet it with the right thought, 
and so our neighbor's failure to obey God provides 
us with an opportunity to grow into the Christ 
Mind. 

We can begin this work with the full assurance 
that the Spirit that prompts us to try to love those 
who wrong us, knows how to use our right-thought 
in bringing that soul to the light. 



CHARACTER BUILDING 185 



If we are in earnest about obeying God; and can 
forget all self seeking in our zeal to bring others 
into their spiritual inheritance we cannot fail; for 
this is the scientific or spiritual method of building 
up the spirit of man within him. 

Self-seeking is degenracy to the spiritually en- 
lightened. The cure for it is the knowledge that 
selfishness is opposed to soul-growth, and the scien- 
tific reason for obedience to the law of love. 

When we understand the difference between the 
animal form of self-seeking, and the spiritual — for 
we are working for ourselves most scientifically when 
we forget self in zeal for universal good — we might 
even say that God is working for himself — and are 
led by the Spirit into the * 1 Highway of Life, ' ' where- 
in we proclaim our spiritual manhood and woman- 
hood, we cannot help but grow mto higher spirit- 
ual attainment. And so in time the insanities, bred 
by ages of wrong-thinking, will fall away, and thus 
the Glory of God will be revealed in man fashioned 
after the right-thought of God, and all flesh shall 
see this glory together. 

If we thus pour out our soul to the afflicted soul 
by using our thought forces right, we have the 
promise of great spiritual power; for Christ over- 
came the world-thought by the same law, and has 
promised to those who overcome, in all their facul- 
ties, a seat beside Himself on his throne. 

For this is the way He attained his spiritual 
power : - 1 He poured out his soul unto death, he was 
numbered with transgressors; he bore the sin of 
many ; and made intercession for the transgressors. 1 9 

Why? 

Because he was the whole thought of God ; and 



186 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



as God loved men, and purposed good to them, so 
Christ loved them, and, therefore, took their af- 
flictions and transgressions upon himself, that he 
might be able to induce his own thought in them. 

The Father being glorified in the obedience of the 
son, to his Law of Mind, gave into his keeping "all 
power in heaven and earth," and he sat down on 
the creative throne, from which he now directs the 
work of his Kingdom. 

He is doing this as we have learned by the action 
of a purely natural law; that of thought transfer- 
ence in building up character. 

"We have learned also the conditions we must ful- 
fill to be a conductor of this spirit of life ; and that 
by patient continuance in right thinking we will 
receive an ever increasing power to turn others 
into the path of life, and help to usher in the day 
of Restitution of all things, when humanity, being 
set free from wrong thought shall go forward to 
spiritual perfection. 

It is easy to understand why our Maker could 
not bring the spiritual man fullfledged into exist- 
ence. He might create a jelly fish in such a way 
but not the spiritual man. 

This character that is to be one with the Father 
must traverse all the planes of being, must over- 
come evil by choosing good so that good shall be 
his own. Until he has actually overcome he has 
attained nothing. Thus among men a man may be 
highly honored for his supposed exalted character, 
when he only reflects the best of the character 
around him in the world. 

This is why we are not qualified to sit in judgment. 
We cannot know the thoughts of the heart, but he 



CHARACTER BUILDING 187 



who is working on that character knows. We may 
be sure that when he tells us that we are to strive 
after obedience to the law of love to all, we are 
being rightly directed. 

This is indeed the only sane attitude towards all 
souls in all stages of growth. The Lord is work- 
ing with that soul to bring it forward in spirituality?' 
What it is now we have been in the past, or will be 
in the future, for all pass through the same pro- 
cesses. 

In building up his Mind in his creatures, each 
must toil up the same incline, and each finds it easier 
to slide back than to advance. 

Every added thought of God makes it easier to 
go forward. Evil has seven heads. That is why it 
is so hard to eradicate. As long as one spark of 
life remains in one of these heads we are held cap- 
tive by the world-thought. 

On the other hand the seven Spirits of God are 
everywhere present, and are all powerful. Man has 
only to get into perfect harmony with this irresist- 
ible current of energy by thinking the Thoughts of 
God and he will be carried by it away from the 
world force, and be no more a slave to its thought. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 



WRONG THINKING produces actual physical 
changes in the brain, and this causes dis- 
orders of the body. Sickness, as well as overt acts 
of wickedness is an evidence of wrong mental action. 



We cannot make ourselves well, either in mind 
or body, by saying there is nothing wrong with us ; 
but we can do so by getting our thoughts in har- 
mony with the Mind of Christ. 



The Thought of God fills all space, and as all 
visible creation is built up by thought, Spirit con- 
trols all visible things, and so, "Nothing is too 
hard for God." 



As God is our life he should be the basis of every 
thought, the motive power for every act. 



Man's materialistic understanding of visible cre- 
ation causes him to war against spiritual thought, 
and brings in its train disease, insanity, and death. 



The literal meaning of sin is mistake. A sinner 
then, is one who makes mistakes, and this mistake 
is wrong thinking. 



190 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Christ gave the scientific formula for continuous 
and harmonious spiritual progress, in his last talk 
to his followers: "If ye keep my commandment — 
to love all others — ye shall, by thus abiding in me, 
receive whatsoever ye ask." 



This is the secret of soul growth and the only one. 
And we must strive to maintain an attitude of right 
thought to others no matter what their conduct 
may be. 



All that makes men good or bad is the quality of 
their thought. 



The power to choose our thoughts is all that sep- 
arates man from the brute creation. 



In the beginning was the Thought ; and the 
Thought was God. 



All things were made by Thought and without 
Thought was nothing made. 



In the Thought alone is Life, Truth, Light. 



The Thought became flesh and dwelt among men, 
that they might see the beauty and power of the 
spiritual character, and learn the law of the heavens . 
To this end Christ lived among men, that they 
might be led from the material plane of thought to 
the spiritual, and thus enter the higher kingdom 
of life. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 191 



"lam come that ye may have abundant life." "I 
am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," were his 
constant utterances. Thought is Spirit and Spirit 
is life. 



Christ could restore the dead, and heal the sick 
because his thought was that which is Life, even 
the Thought of God. He could turn water into 
wine and multiply the loaves and fishes, because 
the visible things are products of God's thought 
and he was the whole Thought of God. 



The absolute victory over self that caused him 
to "lay down his life" in obedience to the Divine 
Thought was the means of his taking up the higher 
life; and by this he was enabled to say, "All power 
in heaven and earth is given unto me." 



If you would abide in Christ you must have his 
thought abiding in you; and his thought is love to 
all, for "God is Love." 



When the Thought of Christ abides in all its full- 
ness in a soul, that soul cannot help but do ' greater 
works,' according to the promises of Christ. 



We might render the combined teaching of Di- 
vine Thought in the language of Christ in this way : 
If ye seek the Kingdom of Heaven, by seeking al- 
ways to think my thought, all material things, that 
ye need will be given unto you. Seek ye always 
the riches of the spirit — even the kingdom of right- 
thought — for the Thought of God is the Creator of 



192 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



all visible riches, and if ye will but bring yourselves 
into harmony with the law of this kingdom, by 
thinking the Thoughts of God, then shall ye enter 
into your inheritance and all things shall be yours. 



"Fear not, for it is your Father's good- will to 
give you the kingdom/ 1 of right thought, and when 
ye abide in it ye shall love all others and will even 
share your worldly goods with those in need. For 
the children of this kingdom of right thought know 
that God cannot forsake them, though he may give 
them many trials, which shall test them to see 
whether they will abide in the Thought of God 
through all temptations. 



"If ye therefore, continue in this thought, I will 
cause my Spirit to flow to you and you will grow 
into a spiritual manhood where ye shall have power 
with God and man; and be able to do greater works 
than I have done here on earth." 



"For I go to the Father who is greater in 
Thought than I ; and as he will show me yet greater 
things, the Spirit will guide you into the Truth and 
show you things to come." 



"If ye therefore have two coats and your neighbor 
have none, ye must share; if he hunger you must 
supply his need; if he be homeless you must offer 
him shelter ; while helping him to do for himself. 
These visible Thoughts of God are for all to share, 
and it displeaseth the Father when He seeth his 
children selfish with one another." 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 193 



4 'He hath also promised never to forsake those 
who obey him and when ye do not obey it showeth 
that ye do not believe his word. 

"If ye are not faithful therefore, in the use of 
that which belongs to God, even the visible things 
necessary to man's existence here, how can you ex- 
pect him to give you the spiritual gifts, which are 
the true riches?" 



"If ye have not obeyed the Thought of God in 
regard to these lesser gifts, how can you be trusted 
with the greater gifts of the Spirit?" 



"Be ye therfore perfect in thought even as God 
is the perfect Thought, give to him that asketh, lend 
to him that would borrow, even though it be one 
who has done you wrong, and you will, by this 
obedience, become one with God; and his Spirit 
will flow to you and the secrets of nature, which 
are the secrets of God, will enable you to supply 
your own needs and the needs of others." 



"For the kingdoms of this world shall become the 
Kingdom of God, and therefore your kingdom, if 
you obey its law. In this kingdom is abundance 
of good for all." 



"For the dominion and the kingdom under the 
whole heaven, shall be given to the people who 
think the Thoughts of God; and they that turn 
many to right-thought shall shine in that kingdom 
like stars; for they shall be the ministers and priests 
of God's ordaining to teach men the law of Zion." 



194 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



"As the living Father sent me and I live by 
thinking the Thoughts of God; so he that thinketh 
my thoughts shall live." 



""When you shall overcome the world-thought by 
building up your soul in the Thought of God; to 
you will I grant to sit by me on my throne; for I 
overcame, and am set down with my Father on his 
throne." 



"And if thou shalt honor the Lord not doing 
thine own works, seeking thine own pleasures nor 
thinking thine own thought, I will lead thee into 
green pastures, and unto living fountains of water ; 
and everlasting joy shall be upon your head; ye 
shall receive joy, and gladness. Sorrow and sigh- 
ing shall flee away." 



"If ye would indeed be citizens in my Kingdom 
ye must be overcomers of world-thought; and this 
will lead you to make straight paths for all feet, 
lest the weak be turned out of the way; for the 
cares of this life and the deceitfulness of visible 
things cause many to be turned aside from the 
right thought." 



"If ye should put a stumbling block in the path 
of the blind ye would be vile indeed, but if ye 
allow those already there to remain are ye one whit 
better?" 

"If ye believe my thought is the Thought of God, 
go through the gates, prepare the way of the people, 
cast up the 'Highway,, gather out the stones, lift 
up a standard for the people." 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 195 



1 1 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the 
feeble knees. Say to them that are of fearful heart 
be strong, fear not. Behold your God is coming 
and is bringing a reward for every man according 
to his work." 



"My son give me thine heart." The heart is the 
seat of the world-thought and God wishes to renew 
it by his own thought. 



God is Spirit, Life, Thought, Love; the Eternal 
creative energy of the universe. 



Since man is created in God's likeness he must 
constantly progress towards the divine character; 
and he can do this only by thinking as God thinks. 

Living in the Spirit is thinking as God would 
think; and this will lead to doing the works of 
God. Right thought always precedes right action. 



Man as created in the likeness of God must have 
a faculty of the mind corresponding with the seven 
Spirits of God. 

Christ had overcome in the seven faculties of his 
soul all thought that belongs to the animal plane 
of existence, and in its stead had built up the spirit- 
ual thought, so he could truly say, "God dwelleth 
in me." 



196 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



By bringing every faculty of his being into har- 
mony with the Divine Mind, He became a channel 
through which God could flow into other souls, and 
He could say: All power in heaven and on earth 
is given unto me." 



His development was according to law that gov- 
erns all. There is no mysticism in the spiritual 
world. He obeyed perfectly, therefore he received 
power. 



In his seven messages to the soul in its progress 
towards God, the promises of reward is to the over- 
comers of all thought on the animal plane. He had 
passed through and taken a seat on the creative 
throne beside the Father; and he promises the 
same reward to those who overcome all the world 
thought. 



True spirituality is to attain to that state where 
every thought is in harmony with the Divine 
thought. 



The law of inheritance in the spiritual world is 
this: Freely as ye have received ye must give; for 
the children of God can inherit his riches only in 
that degree they share with others. 



The Lord never bestows spiritual blessings to 
make us opulent and important. Just in that de- 
gree that we strive to bring other souls to the Path 
of Peace will Peace flow to us. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 197 



Daniel foresaw a time when the kingdom under 
the whole heaven should be given to the people of 
God; and it is unthinkable that the children of God 
should come into their kingdom without a knowledge 
of the law of mind by which they may attain 
dominion. 



The citizens of any nation must know their re- 
sponsibilities before taking an oath of allegiance. 



This kingdom is governed by mind and we must 
learn the law of the Divine Mind in order to obey it. 



A knowledge of the spiritual law that governs 
all right mental aetion will enable us to live a joy- 
ful, satisfactory and successful human life. 



A continuous effort to think the Thoughts of God 
will develop and perfect the faculties of the soul. 



Thinking the Thoughts of God will give purity 
of heart, enable us to love our neighbor will bring 
harmony into all the relations of life, and fill our 
souls with peace, and hope. 



<T Let that thought be in you which was in Jesus ; 
for we must have the Mind of Christ." 



Be ye therefore, renewed in the spirit-thought 
of your mind. 



"Put on the whole Thought of God." 



198 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Our neglect to think the Thoughts of God, and 
our following the current of the world thought that 
has its source in visible creation, is the cause of 
disease, crime, insanity, and death. 



Thought is the only power in the universe. By 
the Divine thought the spirit of man is formed, 
worlds are suspended in space, and the race held 
in life. 



Thought causes the earth to produce food. 
Thought is the_breath of life in which we move, 
breath, and have being. 

Thought is the substance of which worlds are 
formed. 

Thought is character: "As a man thinketh so is 
he." Right thought is right character. 



The words I speak are spirit and life — Christ. 
Right thought is life. 



Thought is transferable from one mind to an- 
other; and by this law God has provided a way to 
communicate with men in all ages. By inducing 
his own thought or character in men fitted to re- 
ceive it, the race is being slowly raised from the 
animal plane of thought, to a spiritual understand- 
ing of creation. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 199 



God develops his own character in men by thought 
induction. It is the only way in which character 
can be built up in men. Since we are in God's 
likeness, we can by obedience to the law of mind, 
receive some of the same power. 



No man thinketh to himself. Thought is electric, 
and flows from one mind to another according to 
the capacity to receive it. By this means the world 
thought, which is confusion, disease, death, flows 
into minds that have no barrier against it and pro- 
duces crimes, insanities, accidents, confusion. 



God is love; love is all the good we know. He 
is friendship ; He is truth ; He is honor ; He is purity ; 
He is peace; He is power. He is all the activities 
of the universe, and nothing is too hard for God ; 
for he created all things by his thought and there- 
fore can control all visible creation. 



Thoughts of love, kindness, forgiveness, forbear- 
ance, bring health and long life : Thoughts of hate, 
impatience, and greed produce disease, insanity and 
death. 



The animal man is unreasonable, irritable, arro- 
gant, selfish, sensual, because he will not let the 
thought or Spirit rule in him. 



No man thinketh to himself: We are all mem- 
bers one of another, and cannot think a thought 
that does not flow out to form or deform other 
minds. 



200 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



All thought that is not in harmony with the 
Christ thought is insanity: for the Divine Mind 
alone understands itself and can therefore keep 
itself right. 



To deny to our faculties their highest develop- 
ment is spiritual suicide. 



No happiness or progress is possible to man, un- 
less he gets into harmony with God's thought for 
the race. 



God is our life : to attempt to live apart from our 
life shows a very abnormal state of thought. 



As God is the Life of man, his law should be the 
basis of every thought, the motive for every act. 



If we think the Thoughts of God, we will have 
his life abiding in us, up to that degree to which 
our thoughts are subject to the law of love. 



If we have the Life of God we will be able to set 
other minds free according to the measure of our 
obedience to right thought. 



God compares himself wtih man thus: "For my 
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
ways my ways, saith the Lord." "For as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts." 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 201 



Wrong thought produces changes in the brain and 
this in turn causes disorder in the body. 



So the difference between the animal and spiritual 
is the quality of thought that predominates. 



Christ came to establish the "Reign of the 
heavens," and placed the leaven, even the Thought 
of God — in the few minds fitted to receive it. 



Human society has been brought to its present 
state by that "resident force" in the minds of men, 
and we are now nearing the time when the moun- 
tains and hills of human understanding shall be 
brought low. When the valleys shall be lifted up. 
When the crooked shall be made straight and the 
rough places plain. And by this leveling of human 
minds. 



By this leveling of human minds "the Glory of 
God shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it to- 
gether." "For the loftiness of men shall be brought 
low," and the Thought of God exalted in the minds 
of all the meek of the earth." 

"For I know the thoughts I think of you, saith 
the Lord: thoughts of good and not of evil, to 
bring you to an expected end." 

Man was created to grow into the divine char- 
acter. 

He has therefore the same mental faculties as his 
Maker, though they are more or less disordered. 



202 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Because man ignores the claims of Spirit, and re- 
fuses to develop his mind by its law, he has sin, 
sickness and insanity, and the end is death. 

Consciousness built on the world thought is death, 
because it ignores the command of Spirit to make 
constant spiritual progress. 

Consciousness built on the spiritual thought is 
life. For ' 'the spirit is life because of right think- 
ing." 

We can only know God by knowing his mind or 
thought. 

The Bible is a chart for sane, satisfactory and 
scientific living. 



Our thoughts decide the quality of life we possess. 
It is possible for us to think the Thoughts of God, 
so we are responsible for over-coming sin, sickness, 
and death. 

Therefore, ' 'make you a new heart and a new 
spirit," saith the Lord. 



Christ had a consciousness founded upon the Di- 
vine thought; spirit could flow through him with- 
out obstruction to restore human minds to the har- 
mony they would have had in fulness if they had 
never transgressed. 



As the Father can communicate his holy intelli- 
gence to his creatures, so Christ has the same power. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 203 



Our power to turn many to the right thinking of 
God and thus help to usher in the reign of spirit on 
earth, depends on the clearness of our understand- 
ing, and the degree of our love. 

This privilege of becoming a co-worker with God 
in bringing others under the rule of Spirit is the 
greatest honor that could be conferred on any being. 

Spirit is life, because the thought of Spirit is al- 
ways right. 



When the Spirit came upon the disciples at pente- 
cost, it was an inflow of the divine consciousness 
into minds prepared for such an honor; and carried 
with it the power to do the works that God is con- 
stantly doing. They could impart this divine life 
to others, and healed the sick, restored crippled 
limbs and raised the dead to life. 



Moses attained such oneness with God that the 
spirit flowed through him to seventy of the elders 
of Israel. 



The spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha. 



Christ first bestowed the spirit on twelve, then 
on seventy and lastly one one hundred and twenty 
at pentecost. 



These instances show that when a man prepares 
himself and obeys God, no matter what the conse- 
quences are, he will have this same power. 



204 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



If it were not for this constant action of Divine 
Spirit, there would be no progress possible to the 
human family. 



Mammon is the world consciousness, that built 
wholly on the thought of the natural man, who sees 
good only in visible riches. 



You cannot serve God and mammon at the same 
time, for serving God implies being controlled by 
those thoughts that emanate from the Mind of God. 



The animal intelligence that constitutes the world 
thought is opposed at every point to the divine in- 
telligence. 



Therefore the carnal mind is enmity against God ; 
and it must be cast out, and its place taken by 
Divine Mind before man can attain to peace in his 
faculties. 



If our character is in steady process of develop- 
ment we will honor our Maker by obeying His law; 
and thus loving our neighbor, we will labor to bring 
them under the rule of Spirit. For then only can 
they reach that state for which they were created, 
and overcome sickness, evil, and death by attaining 
the plane of spiritual thought. 



Love is the highest intelligence, for ' 1 God is 
Love." 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 205 



Selfishness and hate are an evidence of ignorance, 
and are a hindrance to spiritual progress and de- 
basing to the mind. No sane mind hates or con- 
tinues in selfishness. 



Love is active good-will. 



There is no life on the plane of animal thought, 
or death on the spiritual. 



Christ promised power to those who loved all 
others. 

To have power with God, we must abide in Christ 
by holding His words steadfastly in our thought. 
And the substance of the word is love all others. 



Man was created to rule himself by the law of 
spirit. Goodness would then be natural to him, for 
he would manifest God. When he is ruled by the 
world thought he brings himself into dire states of 
mind — even mental blankness and despair. 



The spirit can cast out this disordered conscious- 
ness and restore harmony, because discord is not 
in the divine plan. 



God designed that man should serve him with a 
joyful heart, and if man constantly sought to live 
in harmony with God's law by striving to have 
the mind that was in Christ, life would be har- 
monious. 



206 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Paul said: 4 'We have not received the spirit of 
fear, but power, love, and a sound mind." 



Christ said: ' ' This is eternal life to know thee, 
and him thou hast sent." We can only know God 
by knowing his mind or thought. 



Spirit is thought and thought is therefore the only 
power in the universe. 



God is the Mind of the universe. Because his 
thought is always right there can be no element of 
self destruction in it. His life can have no end. 



"The wages of sin — wrong-thinking — is death." 



"Make you a new heart and a new spirit," saith 
the Lord. 



Overcoming death is a personal responsibility. 
Neglect of spiritual attainment is suicide. 



Obedience to God's law will conduce to health, 
long life, peace of mind, increased intelligenc, more 
intelligent posterity, harmony in all our faculties. 
The Divine Mind alone is sane. 



The Divine Mind is scientific, consistent, self- 
existent; it is unchangable, because it has all 
knowledge. 



There is no law in nature but the Mind of God. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 207 



If you desire life, become more spiritual by learn- 
ing the Thoughts of God, and making them your 
own. 



God builds up the spirit of man within him. 



God designed that man should be governed by 
spirit. If he had never transgressed he would have 
been healthy in mind and body. When Christ set 
men free from evil no violence was done to law. 
The soul was restored to that state of consciousness 
it should have been in all the time. 



To desire to know God's will and do it is to be 
perfectly sane. 



The Mind of God is the fountain of life. God 
ordained that men should walk by the law of spirit 
and live. The world thought or animal mind is 
death, but Christ can cast out the consciousness of 
the world-thought and restore life. 



No sick person is ever restored to health but by 
the power of God. Christ had the same power that 
the Father had because he had the same mind. 

That wrong or disordered thought is the cause of 
death is taught in the Words of Christ : ' 1 The words 
I speak are spirit and life." 



Whatever a soul lacks can be supplied from the 
divine storehouse, for God's purpose is that each 
soul should grow into the divine character. 



208 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



If we make the effort to think right the Spirit 
builds that right thought into our character, and 
thus God builds up the spirit of man within him. 



Paul described it as a spirit of power, love and 
a sound mind. 



Those who then received a position of the divine 
consciousness were the means of communicating it 
to others and so could heal the sick, restore sight, 
raise to life. 



If it were not for this constant action of spirit 
there could be no creation. So love is the only 
creative power and the only intelligence. 



To be privileged to become co-workers with this 
Spirit of good is the greatest honor that can be 
conferred on a sane being. 



But to have power with God we must be ruled 
by Spirit alone, and the world thought must have 
no power over us. If we abide continuously in the 
Divine consciousness by thinking the Thoughts of 
God we will receive the Spirit. When we think the 
Thoughts of God to the exclusion of all others we 
^will receive power to do the Works of God. 

The purely animal mind has always misunder- 
stood creation. 



The essence of all evil is the animal thought that 
visible good is the supreme good. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 209 



The Bible is true science and deals with the spirit- 
ual forces which have built up the visible creation. 

Prophecy is history of creation before it came 
to pass, by the mind that brought it to pass. 



Religiousness is man's attempt to gain the good- 
will of the Creator of man while living according 
to the dictation of the world-thought. 



Spirituality is a desire to know what God is do- 
ing, and to work in the same way. 



The faculty that distinguishes man from the beast, 
that endows him with the high privilege of moral 
responsibility, is the power to choose the kind of 
thought that shall rule his life. 



Man was created with the same faculties as his 
Maker. So the purpose of creation is for men to 
grow into the spiritual manhood. 



Christ gave the scientific formula for continuous 
and harmonious spiritual progress when he said, 
* ' Love all others" * * * " abide in my thought so 
that my spirit may abide in you." 



Man was created that he might attain the God- 
like character. It is natural, therefore, for God's 
Spirit to flow to men to bring them a renewal of 
life, for life means continued progress, and the 
language of spirit is the command "go forward." 



210 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



No man liveth to himself. No man is M saved' * 
from the animal plane of thought for his individual 
happiness, but to help forward the race to the 
spiritual plane of being, that the same type of gov- 
ernment that obtains in the heavens may be estab- 
lished on earth. 



Man's spiritual political and industrial duties are 
identical since his business in this world is to apply 
the law of the heavens to the practical affairs of 
men, and thus help to answer his prayer that God's 
will may be done on earth. 



Thus does God make man responsible for the new 
earth, and for the building up of the Jerusalem of 
peace, which is the concrete expression of all the 
goodness in the Mind of God toward the race. 



Creation is spiritual. It emanates from the eter- 
nal Spirit. The Divine Mind has within itself all 
the multitudinous activities of the universe." There- 
fore, nothing is too hard for God. Material things 
are a manifestation of spiritual forces. Therefore, 
the earth is the Lords and he provided it for a home 
for the children of men. Man has made artificial 
arrangements by which he deprives his brethren of 
their inheritance, but God has never yielded his 
claim to its ownership. 



Yet, when the Father of Spirits calls upon his 
obedient sons to build up his Kingdom he must do 
it by the law of that kingdom, "Love all others." 



It is unscientific to try to bring in God 's Kingdom 
by any mehod but God's method. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 211 



Make you a new heart and a new spirit by think- 
ing the Thoughts of God, until his kingdom is really 
set up in your heart, and then — but not till then — 
will you have power as a spiritual prince with God 
and man, so you can help to establish that new 
order in the visible world around you. 



For this must be done so that God may come down 
and dwell with men, and each soul who understands 
his voice has a responsibility in preparing human 
society for his coming. 



For there will be no peace until God is the recog- 
nized ruler on earth; and the message of his son 
is recognized as truth, for the loftiness of man must 
be deposed and God's law exalted before we can 
walk in the 4 'Highway of Life." 



"For I will no more turn my face away from my 
people, for I have poured out my spirit upon them," 
saith the Lord. 



The Thoughts of God constantly held in mind 
will bring newness of life into jaded and tired souls. 
It will bring, in time, any state or condition of mind 
that we could desire, for God is the inexhaustible 
source of life and if we attain the necessary atti- 
tude of soul this life will flow to us and out to 
others. 



The Divine Mind is sane, scientific, consistent, 
self -existent. Because the thought of that mind is 
always right there can be no element of self de- 
struction. 



212 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



The Divine Mind has within itself all the activities 
of the universe, and visible creation manifests the 
multitudinous activities of the Mind of God. 



Thought is magnetic; thought is electrical, and 
flows from mind to mind according to its degree of 
conduction. 

Every element in nature has some characteristic 
of the omniscient mind. 



Spiritual stagnation is death. Growth is the law 
of life. Mental activity in obedience to the spirit- 
ual law is health of soul. 



"We are commanded to love all others becuase all 
souls are created in the divine likeness, and in time 
will grow into the divine character. 



We are all in the same family and God is the 
Father of all. As we could not please an earthly 
parent while mistreating one of their other child- 
ren, so we need not profess to love God unless we 
love all his children, and desire the same blessings 
for all others as we desire for ourselves. 



There is nothing vague or mystical about spirit- 
ual law. It is all in accord with nature. 



We were created to live in harmony with Spirit. 
The unnatural thing is that we were foolish enough 
to get out of harmony with life. We can return 
to the true path any moment we determine to be 
governed by God's Mind. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 213 



Christ was not a mystic, he was supremely sane* 
and worked by a well denned and natural law. 



When asked by the people what the Work of God 
consisted in, his reply was: "Ye must believe in 
him (understand him) whom God hath sent." Show- 
ing that the Work of God begins with a right idea 
of His character and purpose. 



It is natural and manly for men to seek a knowl- 
edge of God. The effort to know the Divine Char- 
acter improves the mind of the inquirer, and of 
succeeding generations. No honest desire for spirit- 
ual improvement ever fails in helping the race for- 
ward. Other men labored and we of this genera- 
tion are reaping the benefits of their efforts. 



Let us see to it that future generations shall call 
this one blessed for the work it shall do for hu- 
manity. 



Every faithful soul from Adam's time to ours has 
made our labor easier to perform. 



Each soul has the same faculties though they may 
not yet be organized. All are not in the same stage 
of development. 



What any individual is now you have been and 
will be. Therefore, be teachable. All souls are 
capable of growing into the divine character, and 
for this reason we must love them. They may be 
unlovely, but God loved you when you were un- 
lovely. 



214 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Creation is a manifestation of God. When it is 
finished we shall understand God perfectly. 



The fact that humanity has progressed in the 
past is evidence of further advancement. For the 
spirit of progress abides in men, a resident force, 
and they must go forward. 



The present moral and spiritual stagnation of 
human society, is the cause of war, pestilence, and 
civil discord; and will last as long as man's resist- 
ance to the leading's of spirit continues. Stagnation 
is death. Moral progress alone is life. 



The churches have forgotten that- there is yet 
another outflow of God's Spirit promised, and seem 
to think they do not need it. Yet it is foretold fully 
"by the prophet Isaiah, by Malachi, Micah, and by 
John in Revelation, when he saw the mighty angel 
that came down from heaven and lightened the earth 
by his brightness. 



The wrong idea in the world that we can occupy 
our minds with the world-thought in this life, and 
enter the Kingdom of heaven when we die, has no 
support in Scripture. 



Joshua was commanded to meditate on the law 
day and night, and the result promised was success 
in all his undertakings, for then God would be with 
him. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 215 



God' controversy with the race is caused by their 
perverse, stubborn, vicious, or silly, mental activities. 
God calls them vain thoughts. They don't conduce 
to progress, or intelligence. They are apt to bq 
earthly, sensual, devilish, but though they may be 
of a higher order, as long as they have their source 
in materialism, they are vain, and, therefore, dis- 
pleasing to God. 



Divine Mind certainly knows what sort of con- 
sciousness is best for man to develop within him- 
self ; for that mind is his life. So it is evidence of 
a ound and discerning mind to study and know the 
Mind of God. 



Moral evil, and the resulting sickness, insanity, 
and death will be overcome only when the race be- 
comes sane enough to humble themselves to ' ' walk 
with God." 



The spirit of commercialism called in Scripture 
the "wine of Babylon has made the nations drunk 
with materialism ; and we cannot hope for much 
improvement in the rank and file of humanity until 
a system of industry founded on universal good- 
will takes the place of what now exists. 



Babylon, the grandest city of olden times, was 
used as a type of sordid commercialism by the 
prophets of God in the time of Daniel, who was 
prime minister to its kings for several scores of 
years. During that time the prophet Jeremiah in 
the land of Judah wrote: "We would have healed 
Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and 



216 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



let us go each one to his own country, for her judg- 
ment reaeheth unto heaven, and is lifted up to the 
skies. ' ' 



The city fell to the Medes and Persian, while 
Daniel the Hebrew prince was yet an efficient min- 
ister, and after many vicissitudes ceased to be a 
place for man to dwell, and prophecy foretells that 
this system of commercialism also called Babylon, 
shall be cast down and cease to exist, and that all 
heaven will rejoice at her destruction. 



John does not record that he saw a new in- 
dustrialism to take the place of Babylon and min- 
ister to the needs of the race, but by turning back 
to Isaiah we are called upon to rejoice and be glad 
for the work Jehovah is doing. 



" Behold, I am creating a new heaven and earth; 
and I will rjoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my peo- 
ple." And this new creation will still be one we 
can understand, for the activities described are 
known to us. "They, (God's people), shall build 
houses and inhabit them, they shall plant vineyards 
and eat the fruit." 



Human labor will still be necessary to supply 
man's physical wants, but it will be under perfect 
conditions. "They shall not labor in vain, nor bring 
forth their young for trouble ; and then he adds one 
of the most remarkable promises ever made to our 
unhappy race. Listen to this ye weary sons of men 
who ignore the claims of Spirit, and learn what is 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 217 



in store for you when you come to your senses : ' ' It 
shall come to pass that before they call I will 
answer, and while they are yet calling I will hear. ' ' 



Consider this miracle of love. A good mother is 
the nearest we can find to the love of God. But a 
mother's love is only for her own. Here we have an 
example of a love working through millenium for 
a selfish sordid race; first to build up his love in 
their minds and then lavish upon them all the riches 
of the universe. 



Just now our perverse thought hides the face of 
God from his people, but when the hour is come, 
he will subdue our iniquities, and cast our trans- 
gressions into the depths of the sea. 



But, though God is doing so much for the human 
family, we must exert our minds as strenuously as 
though we had no helper. Create in me a new heart 
should be our desire, and we should labor as though 
it all depended on ourselves, to make ourselves a 
new heart, and a new spirit. All our mental energy 
must be engaged in building up a new conscious- 
ness, for that constitutes life. 



But we must remember that when we begin to 
understand what the love of God to humanity really 
means, we must begin to exercise the same quality 
of love towards our fellow creatures. Christ prayed 
that the Love of the Father might be in his follow- 
ers, and this was equal to praying that they might 
have a portion of the divine intelligence bestowed 
on them, for Divine Love is the sum of all wisdom 



218 HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



and truth. Love in the heart enlightens the under- 
standing, and universal benevolence will result in 
perfect knowledge. 

When God commands us to love all others as our- 
selves he is inviting us to partake of the divine 
wisdom. 



We are God's workmanship, created in Christ un- 
to good works, which God has ordained for us to 
walk in. 



So the spiritual manhood is the highest type 
known. Man, on any other plane, is subject to 
death, but on this plane of spirit he is deathless as 
his Maker. . When all the graces of God's character 
is built up in the human mind God will dwell there, 
and there will be eternal progress and eternal 
knowledge. 



In Isaiah the Lord tells us that his thoughts are 
as far above our thoughts as the heavens are above 
the earth and on many other occasions makes known 
plainly that his controversy with the race is because 
of their unscientific mental habits. 



It is made plain that God and mankind can never 
be harmonious until the latter puts away all un- 
scientific habits of thought and puts on the Mind 
of Christ. This led to the conclusion that the word 
righteousness would be literally right-thinking, and 
suggestion is made that the reader apply this in 
reading Scripture. He will realize that the mean- 
ing is always clearer. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 219 



Christ said, "The words I speak are spirit and 
life;" and Paul tells us, "The spirit is life, because 
of righteousness (right-thinking). So right-thinking 
is life, or produces the condition necessary to life,, 
and as we all object to death and desire life we 
have here exact information that if followed per- 
sistently until we have changed our state of con- 
sciousness from that of the world thought to the 
divine, we will have eternal life as Christ has it. 



His kind of thought produces his kind of life, 
and leads constantly to higher intelligence. 



The Bible thus carries proof of its authorship, for 
it fills all the needs of the race, and makes this 
knowledge so plain that he who runs may read. , 



Of course this warfare we must wage to over- 
come death is not easy, but its very hardness shows 
us how grand will be our mental gifts when we have 
attained that for which we strive. And, too, this 
hardness is an honor bestowed by Divine Mind. 
We are worth much in God's sight or he would 
never have placed such responsibilities upon us. If 
any assert that Christ has already done all that is 
necessary and that we have nothing to do I will 
suggest that Christ said: "If ye overcome as I over- 
came (the world) ye shall sit down with me." It 
is the world-thought that we must overcome, and 
we must overcome by building up the Divine con- 
sciousness, and have that mind that was in Christ. 



220 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



The bold materialism of this age would deny the 
power of God to heal the sick, or raise the dead; 
but when we know this to be a spiritual creation 
we can have no doubts. 

Scientists have decided that radiant energy from 
the sun is not material, and the student of God's 
law understands that it is spiritual energy. If all 
things visible are made up of spiritual substance, 
their Maker who is Spirit must have control of all 
visible things; and if he can call it into existence, 
he could cause its dissolution when it has served 
its purpose. 



So with the healing of disease or the raising of 
the dead. Man was created to live in God's Spirit, 
but has not gone forward in the right line of pro- 
gress. All the power he could have made use of 
is still in Divine Mind, and is for his use. God has 
left a way of escape open for healing of mind or 
body. The part of wisdom is to take advantage of 
this law and go forward, for life is to be found in 
the way. 



This study of the Bible has resulted in a per- 
ception of Christ as a statesman, par excellence. 
Not alone as a Savior of men from the animal 
plane of thought, and a leader of the high lands 
of spiritual understanding is the Master of men to 
be understood. He is all this, but he is more. He 
is a King preparing citizens for the Kingdom over 
which he expects to reign, and he does it by build- 
ing up his own character in his subjects by the law 
of Divine Mind. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 221 



God shall come down and dwell with men, and 
the very thought of such an honor should nerve us 
to energy and zeal in building up those institutions 
that will make his presence possible. We must get 
human society into a fit state to receive the King 
and we can do it only by building according to the 
law of the spiritual realm. 



The Bible teaches plainly that the Hebrew 
prophets understood the law of mind and could get 
knowledge from God and so learn what to do in 
emergencies. They sometimes heard the still small 
voice, but oftener what they desired was was made 
known by a vision or dream. 



When Daniel and his companions were threatened 
with death because of the king's dream they fasted 
and prayed — polarized their minds, as it were — 
and by turning their minds from the world-thought 
they received the information they sought. 



It is propable that the colleges of those days 
taught the sons of the prophets this knowledge. 



It is evident that there were men in Israel that 
could see spiritual forces at work all around them, 
for Elisha asked the Lord to open his servant's 
eyes, and the young men saw chariots and horses 
all about them. 



Baalim, who was a descendant of Abraham could 
see visions of God with his eyes open. 



222 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



Verily we walk among spiritual forces, and the 
reason there is such discord among men, is that* 
though, they live in a spiritual world, governed by 
spiritual law, and are themselves spiritual; they 
refuse to understand, and persist in calling them- 
selves animal and materialistic. 



There is no possibility of unity or harmony 
among men on the plane of the world-thought. If 
humanity were lifted bodily into perfect environ- 
ment in their present state of consciousness, they 
would soon turn it into bedlam. 



Men may seem to be united and band themselves 
together in brotherhoods for this and that purpose, 
but there is no abiding friendship. Let some money 
interest come between any two of them and they 
are at each other's throats. 



There is no peace saith my God to the wicked — 
those who mistake the true meaning of life. 



Unity can come only from determined effort to 
learn the Thought of God and abide in it. All 
friendship, brotherhood, and relationship is spirit- 
ual, or it is a sham like the friendships of the super- 
ficial mind. 



THE SOUL'S CHALLENGE 



I hurl defiance to this world of doubt and death;, 
I'm not of it, I am of God, a living breath, 
Sent forth to overcome the seven headed monster 
And to upbuild all things upon creation's primal 
law. 

Thrones, empires, kingdoms, shall before me falL 
Injustice, error — I'll spare them not at all. 
Make straight the highway, lift the standard high 
For Christ triumphant comes to lead the van 
And calls for warriors, all the race. Oh, man ! 
Accept thy destiny, and try 

To reach the heights where walk the sons of light. 



THE SOUL'S SANCTUARY 



'HEN the fierce billows wildly roll, 
And the great deep with tempest tossed 



Threatens with death the timid soul 
And while lips whisper, 'All is lost/ 
Then shall the soul look up and say, 
' 'Beneath His feathers I will hide;" 
Till tempest turns to perfect day, 
"In His pavilion I'll abide." 

When cyclones, earthquake, tempest — all, 
Do their dread work in blackest night ; 
When lightening bolts the world's appal, 
And thunders, then, the weak affright : 
Then of her peace the soul shall sing, 
And all the welkin ring with joy; 
From out the darkness God shall bring 
Great good, and peace; without alloy. 

When hate and jealousy, with death 

As a close comrade stalks around; 

When trumpets breathe forth murderous breath, 

And marching myriads shake the ground: 

The soul shall safely trust — and live 

Within His tabernacle vast, 

^Beneath his eye — and, so, shall give 

No heed to war or tempest blast. 




THE SOUL'S SANCTUARY 



125 



Our God upon the whirlwind dire, 

Rides forth to work his gracious will; 

He guides the lightening, lights the fire — 

That burns until his wrath is still: 

Then let the soul exult, and dwell 

As in God's presence, safe and strong; 

And unto all that listen, tell 

That Christ shall overthrow all wrong. 

For now his kingdom does appear, 

Thrones, empires, and dominions fall ; 

And earth, though drenched with blood shall hear 

God's voice in peace unto her call. 

She then shall blossom forth anew, 

For love and righteousness shall reign; 

Then peace and justice shall ensue — 

And all the race be born again. 

Then shall the soul rejoice in God, 

And dwell beneath his sheltering wing; 

Rejoicing nature shall applaud — 

Tree unto tree with gladness sing. 



WHY WE WANT THE EARTH 



God's children want the earth, and they will take it, 
In God's own way, and then will make it 
A pleasant home for each child of the race, 
Whether there homely or fair of face. 
Whether they belong to the learned, or the rich, 
The poor, or the ignorant — no matter which — 
We'll give them a share in this glorions earth, 
And value each man for what he is worth. 

We are tired of hades, we are tired of hell; 
We really would like to have rest for a spell, 
From all this tumult, perplexity, doubt — 
Who really can tell what the race is about? 
And so far a change that will end this, we sigh 
While we pray for the kingdom thats coming so nigh 

If plutocrats, then, do not like our style 
And object to our methods — well we should smile — 
Let them hunt up an island, far, far away, 
Populate with mossbacks and go there — and stay. 



THE LORD FILL HEAVEN AND EARTH 



God walks across the earth in seven-hued light, 
Yet we see naught but sunshine, and green leaves, 
He thus reveals his glory in our sight — 
We close our eyes, and still the spirit grieves. 
For peace and power, for purity and love, 
How gladly would we give up this vain life: 
We might attain to these in realms above — 
Might soar away from all the sordid strife, 
That occupies the minds of earthly mould — 
Who love not God, but love alone his gold. 

"Yet holy, holy, holy, is the Lord:" 
The earth is filled with glory from his throne, 
And righteousness and peace with one accord, 
Have kissed each other in this world — our home. 
We knew it not; our very souls are dense — 
We have no heaven because we lack the sense of 
Spirit. 

For heaven comes not where hungry children dwell, 
And women labor like dumb slaves for bread; 
While men contend, as very ferinds in hell — 
For right to live — until their souls are dead. 
We might have heaven here, if we would give 
The right to every one in heaven to live. 



228 



HIGHWAY OF LIFE 



No artificial wings will ever take 

You from this world to one of higher plane. 

And if yon keep your brother in the dust 

There must your soul cleave — though your heart 

should break. 
If for the wealth of this low world you lust, 
While others cry for bread, and cursing God, so die, 
My friend its very sad — but then you must 
Stay down here, too, in hell — and so must I. 

Yet still Christ cries, "Go through the gates, 
Prepare the way — the "Highway" for the weak; 
Take out the stones ; the standard, now await ; 
The leader's hand; the voice of one to speak bring 
As he of old : Proclaim the advent of the king 
Of righteousness. Now let the nations sing. 
For nature, jubilant, does now rejoice. 
The very tress cry out — and clap their hands, 
Even the eternal hills have found a voice; 
All earth pulsates with joy, for God is near; 
And heaven will come to men while they are here. 



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